Finding Hope Through Grief
by ShadowAlliance
Summary: Dealing with the loss of her brother Pietro, Wanda goes to a group therapy session, there she meets Peter Parker who's dealing with his own troubles, the death of Uncle Ben. A bond is quickly formed and both soon learn to lean on one another for support. Post Age of Ultron. MCU. Slow burn.
1. Chapter 1

Finding Hope through Grief

Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel nor any of its characters.**

As Wanda looked at the clock on the wall, she was disappointed to see that only ten minutes had passed. She inwardly groaned as her worst nightmare about coming here was true.

When Steve had originally suggested going to a self-help group she scoffed at the idea, talking to a group of strangers about her personal feelings did not sound appealing. However, he had made it clear that she wasn't processing her grief over her brother properly and needed help.

Wanda's first reaction was to deny she was struggling, but the firm look Steve gave her quickly broke down any excuse she could come up with.

In truth, she was hurting a lot more than what the rest of the Avengers were seeing. The first few weeks after the incident in Sokovia were fine, whether it was the thrill of being in a position where she could finally help people, moving to a new country and into the Avengers Compound, or just the change in her usual routine with morning training and the missions she went on.

Once her life settled down she could now no longer distract her mind and was left to think about her fallen brother. The nightmares were the worst part, every night she would either see a memory of the two of them, or she would see her brother get shot down by Ultron, helpless to save him. The latter in which would leave her screaming in her sleep.

Her life wasn't any better awake, as any memory that reminded her of brother would either cause her to break down crying or cause her to unleash her powers onto any poor objects within her vicinity. It didn't take long for the rest of the Avengers to notice and they approached her one on one on trying to work through her grief.

She appreciated the fact that they all were trying to help her, but she still didn't know a lot about them and it left her uncomfortable speaking about something very deep and personal to her. The only one who made her open up a little was Clint, the man had offered her a room in his farmhouse, and suggested time away would do her good. Wanda quickly denied the kind offer, with her unstable powers she would put his family in a lot of harm and she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she hurt any of them.

As her problem kept persisting Steve had given her an ultimatum, either she would spend an hour of her time one-on-one with a therapist hired by Tony or she would go to a self-help group in the city. She chose this option, as this would allow her to not be forced to speak and just sit back as the two hours passed.

As Wanda glanced at the clock and saw only five more minutes passed since she last looked, she started to wonder if she made the right choice.

She looked around the room trying to find something to distract her but the room itself was bland. It was a gymnasium in a high school and yet there were no sights of any sports equipment. There were bleachers behind her and a few basketball hoops but that was it.

"Wanda do you feel like sharing next?" a voice spoke up across from her.

Wanda looked back in front of her and saw almost everyone was staring at her.

"Sorry, what did you say?" She asked

"I asked if you felt like sharing why you're here," Mark replied. Mark was the leader so to speak, he apparently organized these weekly group meetings and every session he apparently started it by opening up about his problems and why he started this group.

"No," She answered quickly, she had no interest in sharing.

Whether he was used to this sort of behavior or was just pretending to be nice just nodded and asked someone else if they wanted to share.

Wanda didn't have anything against Mark or this group its just she felt very alone when she heard them share their stories, a wife grieving over the loss of her husband through a heart attack several years ago, a young man losing his mom to cancer, or a father losing his son to a drug overdose.

They couldn't relate to what she went through with her brother. Huddled in the corner holding one another in a caved in house staring at a inactive mortar shell wondering any moment if this would be their last day, being enlisted by Hydra and having countless experiments performed on them, watching as their home become a war zone by foreign soldiers and Ultrons robots, or feeling the exact moment she felt her twin brother being killed and the connection they shared being extinguished.

Wanda could feel a few tears dripping down her face and she quickly wiped them hoping no one saw, the last thing she needed was everyone asking her what was bothering her.

She needed to distract herself from the memories of her brother until she got back to the Compound; she figured getting a look at the other people in here would keep her mind off Pietro.

Nothing really stood out about them, some were dressed in nice clothing, others looked as if they went straight from bed to here.

It was when her eyes landed on a small boy that her eyes narrowed in attention. Wanda was confused about why someone far younger than everyone in this room was here, even though she was only nineteen she thought this group was for adults; the boy at best was thirteen.

However, it wasn't the boy's age that got her attention it was his eyes. A pit started to form in her stomach as she realized the look the boy had in his eyes was the loss of a parent. She knew this as she'd seen the same look on Pietro's eyes after the death of their parents and she knew she had the same look as well. Wanda's heart broke a bit at the fact, someone, that young was dealing with the death of someone close to him.

"Thanks for sharing Susan, why don't we take a small break and resume after," Mark said breaking Wanda out of her thoughts.

Wanda instantly stood up and started to walk away, she was happy she was halfway through this but she still had another hour to go.

It was at that moment her stomach started to rumble, the one good thing about this was that Mark had been kind of enough to bring some donuts with him. She made her way over the small table that had the snacks, however, she was disappointed to find that the other group members had already eaten them all. The only thing left was a single plain donut.

"Oh man." Wanda heard a voice whine beside her.

She glanced over and saw it was the boy from earlier, he seemed to share in her disappointment over the lack of food.

"You can have the last donut." She offered, it wasn't much but the single donut wasn't going to satisfy her, might as well let him have it.

The boy's eyes widened as he realized someone was standing right beside him. He quickly blushed and turned his head.

"Oh, uh sorry, didn't mean to whine about it right in front of you." He said while rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"Hungry?" She asked she didn't know why she was making a conversation with him but at this point, this was the most interesting part of this session.

The low rumble emitting from his stomach was enough of an answer; Wanda couldn't help but giggle, much to the boy's embarrassment.

"Ye- yeah. Didn't feel like having breakfast this morning so I just skipped it." He answered quietly.

To anyone else, forgetting to eat would've sounded like a typical teenager thing to do, but she could see from the way the boy said it there was something deeper. Wanda had remembered the few times after her parents died she didn't have an appetite to eat, of course, she regretted it afterward but she just didn't feel like doing anything that required effort.

She saw Mark motioning for everyone to take a seat, the displeasure of continuing this session and the fact her stomach was bugging her to eat only made it worse. It was at that moment Wanda made a decision. "Want to get something to eat?" She asked.

The boy's head perked up at her question, he looked around confused as he glanced around the room. "There isn't any more food."

Wanda merely raised an eyebrow at him.

The boy's eyes widened as he finally figured out what she was implying. "Oh! You want to leave and get food from somewhere else?"

"That's the idea." She replied.

The boy got a nervous look as he saw the group started taking their seats. "But we can't just leave, it isn't over."

It took everything in Wanda not to laugh out loud at the boy's words, it was very cute. "Were allowed to leave, this isn't mandatory, we won't get in trouble."

As if to prove her point she started walking to the opposite side of the gymnasium towards the exit. Once she'd reached the door she saw no one in the group had said anything or looked in her direction. She gave one more glance at the boy before walking out. She'd taken ten steps before she heard the sound of someone running behind her.

XXX

They'd found a small pizzeria close by, any worry the boy seemed to have about leaving the session prematurely was gone as he was almost drooling at the list of options on the menu.

A soft smile formed on Wanda's face as the boy's mood seemed to perk up. It reminded her of her time in Sokovia, Pietro and her weren't the only children orphaned and homeless, any chance she could she'd help take care of the little ones, whether giving them more of her own food, helping sew their clothes, or just holding them when they missed their parents. She figured it was the same that attracted her to this boy, someone who had gone through the same pain she had and she felt the need to help when she could.

They soon reached the front and were ready to order; Wanda motioned for the boy to go first.

"I would like a small pepperoni pizza please." He ordered.

"That'll be $5.99." The cashier told him.

The boy quickly rummaged through his pockets before pulling out his wallet, he opened and turned it upside to dump the contents of it out. He was disappointed to see that there were only three dollars worth of change inside.

She noticed the boy's mood seemed to darken a bit as he realized he couldn't afford it.

"Change his order to a large, were sharing." She insisted as she stepped up and pulled out the credit card Steve had given her.

"You, don't have to do that, I'll just get a slice." The boy tried to object shaking his head.

"I would feel bad eating an entire pizza while you only had a slice." She replied kindly paying for the meal.

Realizing the boy wouldn't win he smiled in defeat. "Thank you."

The cashier gave them a ticket and said their order would be ready in ten minutes, they found a table by the front window and settled in. There was a bit of awkward silence for the first minute, neither was sure on what to say, they were strangers.

Now that there weren't any distractions she could get a better look at him. He was fairly young, a tad on the leaner side, his hair was brown and slightly curled to the side, and he was wearing a shirt that had a small green figure she didn't recognize.

"I'm Peter by the way." He said.

Wanda blinked once before realizing she'd never asked his name was only referring to him as "The Boy".

"I'm Wanda." She smiled at him.

"So where are you from Wanda? I don't recognize your accent." Peter asked.

Wanda's initial response was to say "Sokovia", however, she was purposely keeping a low profile. After the events of Ultron, the world knew the Avengers had gained several new members, one of which was a native of the war-torn country. All the government or media knew was the figure was dressed in red and female, the Avengers were trying to keep her identity a secret before an official announcement could be made and the legal paperwork could get through.

She placed her arm on the table and propped her head on top of her hand a small smile of amusement on her face. "Why don't you guess?"

Peter seemed to take her challenge seriously as she could see his forehead creased in concentration and his eyes narrow in thought.

"Well, I would narrow it down to Europe, definitely not western or central. Maybe Slovakia?" Peter finally guessed.

"Hmmm, close." Wanda mused, impressed that he'd almost guess where she lived. "Where are you from?" She said quickly changing the conversation.

Peter had a bashful look on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, a habit she noticed of his. "Nowhere quite as far you are from, I was born and raised here in Queens for all my life."

"Nothing wrong with that, I lived in my home for almost…" Wanda paused as she tried to remember the English word for the number before giving up and making a one and nine with her fingers.

Peter snickered at her, and she couldn't help but pout. "As you can see I'm having trouble with English." She told him.

"Sorry, that was rude of me. I've been learning Spanish in school and it isn't easy, so I shouldn't make fun of you." Peter apologized but he still had a small smile on his face.

Wanda pretended to huff in annoyance but the smile on her face gave her away. "You're lucky you're adorable or I would've hit you."

Peter squared and sat up a bit straighter in his seat. "I'm not adorable I'm almost an adult."

Wanda raised an amused eyebrow at him. "How old are you?"

"Thirteen, but my birthday is coming up soon." He said with far too much confidence.

Wanda couldn't help but laugh lightly at the display, it reminded her so much of Pietro. When they had turned ten he'd felt that was old enough to be considered an adult. She watched with fascination as he walked up to their father and demanded that he gets a say in what they eat for dinner since he was a grown-up and should be able to decide, an empty threat of him being forced to cook every meal quickly dispelled any notion he was all grown up and gladly enjoyed being a kid with her.

The sudden reminder of her brother and parents quickly dampened her mood; she was here to keep her mind off of them, not bringing back old memories. She looked back at Peter and saw he had a small frown on his face.

"Are you okay Wanda? You look like someone just told you Star Trek was better than Star Wars?" Peter asked.

Wanda didn't know what he was referencing but she figured it was a way of saying she looked upset. "It's okay, I was just thinking of back home." She said shaking her head.

"What was your home like?" Peter asked taking an interest.

Wanda struggled with how to describe Sokovia without giving it away. "Its...not perfect. I guess like anywhere else there's crime, poverty and a lot of problems, but for most of my life its all I've ever known and in a way, it'll always be home to me." She confessed sadly.

"I think where we're born will always be something attached to us. I'll always consider myself a New Yorker. Is that why you came here?" Peter replied.

"I was presented with an opportunity to live here, I figured it would be a great way to start over and be able to do things I've never been able to do" Wanda further explained, she felt bad about lying partially but a lot of what she said was the truth.

"Like what?"

"I've always wanted to learn how to play guitar. I remember seeing someone on the street performing with it and I thought it was the most beautiful sound I ever heard." She didn't know why she was sharing so much with someone she just met, but Peter just seemed so excited in getting to know her she guessed it was infectious.

"So tell me about yourself, Peter." She asked quickly changing the subject.

"I'm currently building my own computer." He said.

"You know how to build a computer?" Wanda asked skeptically.

Peter nodded vigorously at her. "Yeah, it's not impressive or anything, just parts people threw out that I found and started putting together. " Peter explained before grabbing another slice.

"Not impressive? You're building it from scraps people threw out, that's very impressive." Wanda complimented, actually amazed that someone so young could do that, she certainly couldn't at his age.

Peter blushed at the praise he was given. "Well it's not finished yet, I'll be happy with it when it actually runs."

It wasn't long after that the pizza was ready and the conversation was put on hold to eat. She wasn't that accustomed to western food, but she had to admit the meal was delicious, a quick glance over to her table mate and she saw him devouring the pizza at a speed much faster to Pietro.

Sensing he was being watched he took his eyes off his slice and looked back at her. "So-sorry, I'm just really hungry." He chuckled nervously.

"It's okay, I'm glad I asked you to come. I fear the sounds your body would've made during the session if you didn't eat." She mused playfully before taking a bite of her slice.

"My aunt sometimes jokes that when I'm hungry it sounds like an alien trying to escape from my stomach." Peter joked back and soon both were laughing out loud at the joke.

XXX

"Are you sure you don't need me to walk you home?" Wanda asked. They had just finished their meal and it was time to go back. Steve had told her one of Starks drivers were to pick her up in front of the school.

"No I'm going to be okay, my apartment is just a short subway ride away." He answered pulling his backpack over his shoulders.

Wanda had a nervous look on her face, it wasn't settling to her to leave someone so young unattended in a big city but she didn't want to get in trouble with Steve and the others.

"Alright then, you are almost an adult after all." Wanda chimed.

"You're never going to let that go are you?" Peter groaned putting his head down.

"Have to get you back somehow for laughing at my troubles with English." Wanda mused.

"I admit defeat. I won't laugh at the almighty Wanda ever again." Peter joked raising his hands in defeat.

She laughed out loud at that, she didn't remember the last time she laughed this much and had as much fun. It was nice.

"It was nice meeting you Peter, enjoy the rest of your day," Wanda said.

"It was cool meeting you too, next time pizza is on me," Peter replied before waving goodbye and running to catch his train.

Wanda watched as he crossed the street and was soon out of sight. Peter was a peculiar boy but very fun to be around, she hoped she would see him again soon.

**Authors Note: Wanted to write an MCU fanfic in a while, finally came up with a full idea. This story starts just after Age of Ultron and will span several years through Civil War and Homecoming and maybe further if I decide to make this longer. Wanda and Peter will be the pairing but because he's so young it'll take a few years before they get together, so this will be a slow burn so to speak.**

**The initial part of this story will be both characters going through the grief of their lost loved ones. Wanda handling the death of Pietro and Peter losing uncle Ben. Eventually, it'll move forward with Peter learning how to use his powers and to become a hero with it. I know Peter didn't seem that upset but that's what happens when your mind is distracted. Eventually, they'll share their stories and learn to lean on one another.**

**Thank you for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

Finding Hope Through Grief

Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: Marvel, Disney and I have begun early negotiations for their property, but until then I don't own any of it.**

"Hi May I'm home," Peter announced as he closed the front door to his apartment behind him.

"Hi sweetie how was the session?" May replied poking her head out of the kitchen.

"Oh, it uh went better than I thought." Peter quickly lied. He felt guilty over lying to May, she'd only suggested he go to it since it was being held in his school.

May looked at him for a moment as if trying to see if he was being honest. Peter couldn't blame her, the past few weeks hadn't been easy on either of them, him especially. Of course, how could anyone handle the death of someone you love when you're the one responsible for their death.

"I know it wasn't easy Peter. I miss him too." May said softly walking over to him and wrapping him in a hug.

"I know May, I know," Peter replied holding onto her tightly, she was all he had left, his parents were dead and now uncle Ben. He couldn't imagine losing the only family he had left.

"Did you talk about what happened?" May asked him after breaking up the hug.

Peter shook his head, he had trouble even thinking about it, talking about it was impossible. It was why he hastily agreed to go to lunch with Wanda; it gave him an excuse to keep his mind off Ben.

"Did you at least make any friends there?" May asked.

Speaking of Wanda, Peter knew to bring up that he met someone through skipping the session entirely wouldn't go well, so he decided to keep that part to himself.

"I did meet someone." Peter smiled recalling meeting Wanda. "There was only one donut left and she offered it to me." Peter seemed to pause as he thought about his lunch with the mysterious girl. "She was nice."

May laughed softly at the story. "Well, she sounds nice, glad you met someone. Anyway dinner is almost ready, why don't you put your bag in your room and wash up. I'll call you when it's ready."

Peter nodded before walking to his room and dumping his bag near the foot of his bed. He walked to the bathroom and ran the tap; he splashed some water over his face.

If he was being honest he wasn't sure how to describe the session. He was completely against it, a feeling he chose not to share with May as she was really trying to help him and he would've felt bad about telling her he didn't want to go. But when he met Wanda and started to talk to her it made him glad he went.

It wasn't until he was halfway home did he realize for the first time since his death he didn't think about Ben. Usually, anything that remotely reminded him of Ben brought up the bad memories, but not then. In fact, he didn't remember laughing and smiling that much in a while. Not even playing with Ned and his new set of Star Wars Lego set brought any joy to him these days.

As he looked at himself in the mirror he saw a small smile poking out, no wonder May seemed happy to see him when he walked in, she must've thought the session was working. He did look happier.

"Peter, dinner is ready!" May yelled from the kitchen.

As if on cue his stomach started rumbling at the mention of food. Peter frowned at that, ever since the spider bite his appetite grew a lot. He was having more and more trouble trying to hide it from May. Before the bite he didn't eat much, he was a scrawny kid; he didn't consume a large number of calories. Now as he noticed the muscles forming and his body getting bigger it was getting harder to hide his large appetite from May. The only saving grace was that he could pin it all on puberty. May did tell him that kids around his age their bodies would start changing and growing.

A cracking sound broke him out of his thoughts as he noticed his hand was applying a little too much pressure and the sink started to crack from the strain, not too big but just another thing to go wrong.

Peter sighed in frustration, all the good he was feeling from earlier was being overwhelmed by so many problems he had to deal with now. Ben, lying to May, the spider bite and now super strength. His parker luck sure was enjoying his misery right now.

XXX

Wanda ducked as a fist came flying straight at her face, she went to sweep the legs of her assailant but they ended up jumping over her leg and out of reach. Getting frustrated she charged her assailant and blocked the incoming kick aimed for her side with her forearm before landing a hit to the chest with a punch and knocking her attacker back.

Her small victory was short-lived as her opponent used her falling momentum to grab onto the grab the hand Wanda had used to punch them and pull her down as well. They both ended up rolling on the ground until her opponent was straddling her and a fatal blow ready to be delivered to her neck.

"I thought I had you this time," Wanda grumbled, much to the annoying laughter of her opponent.

Natasha quickly got off of her and offered her hand; Wanda took it and was pulled up. She rolled her shoulders, as her body was feeling very sore after a particularly long training session.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, you're getting better," Natasha commented, she patted the girl on the back before walking over to a nearby bench, Wanda following behind her.

"I still don't understand why we have to do these annoying sparring sessions, I can always use my powers," Wanda said before opening her water bottle and drinking out of it.

"Because your powers may not always be able to save you," Natasha replied sipping out of her own bottle. "Tony felt the same way, he had his suits to protect him so why did he need to train at all?" She asked her, but Wanda felt it was more rhetorical and waited for Natasha to continue. "Low and behold a year after the attack on New York he was being held captive by an organization called AIM and his suits were nowhere around to help him, he relied on his own abilities to get him out."

Wanda rolled her eyes at her example, despite the fact she knows Tony Stark didn't kill her parents; she still wasn't on the best of terms with the man. Though considering she saw him risk his life to save the people of Sokovia it did help her let go of a lot of her previous anger towards the billionaire.

"So why isn't he here getting his ass kicked instead of me?" Wanda mused.

Natasha smirked at her. "Why do you think he retired?"

Both laughed at Natasha's comment, the idea of Stark being too scared to handle the big bad Black Widow was amusing.

"Back onto the point I was trying to make, you never know when you're in a situation where your powers can't help you," Natasha said before taking a hard look at her. "Also would help your cause if you or I felt you had complete control of your powers."

Wanda couldn't help but look away from Natasha's stare; she knew the older woman was right. She'd be lying if she said she knew her powers full capabilities and knew how to easily use them.

Her hands started to glow with red energy and she started to manipulate it. "You're right, I don't know everything about it, but I won't still know if all we do is hand to hand combat." She finished before the red energy evaporated from her hands.

"Fair point, but Steve wants you to get a basic handle on this before we move to the fun stuff." She paused, as she seemed unsure whether to say what was on her mind, she looked at Wanda for a hard moment before deciding to continue. "Steve and I agree with him on this want to make sure your mind is completely focused before we move on."

Wanda knew right away what she meant by _completely focused_.

"You're worried I'll hurt someone with my powers?" It was more of a statement than a fact.

"Well by my count you've destroyed five toasters, one television and I think the two blenders would also agree with me on this one." Natasha joked.

Wanda glared at the redhead, not finding her joke very funny.

"I'm not saying you're going to hurt someone intentionally, I just know what it's like to be on a mission when your minds elsewhere." She continued, Wanda knew that Natasha Romanovs past was one of mystery; this was probably as detailed as she was willing to share with her right now.

Wanda sighed heavily as she knew Natasha had a fair point, her personal war on the Avengers Compound appliances was more than enough proof her mind wasn't as focused as she would like it to be.

She felt Natasha pat her on the back before standing up. "Don't be too hard on yourself, it just takes time. Besides, you did a lot better today in training and you've only gone to one session so far. Maybe Steve was onto to something sending you there."

She gave the older woman a deadpanned look. Natasha was well aware of her own reservations against the group therapy sessions.

"Come on, let's get changed out of our workout gear, dinner is almost ready. I think Steve's making pasta tonight." Natasha said walking towards the exit.

Wanda thought back to Natasha's earlier comment, she did seem to hold her own better than she had in previous practices. This was the first time sparring with the Russian that she was able to land a hit on her, she doubted it actually had anything to do with going to therapy, but if that's what they felt then maybe they would stop worrying about her so much.

XXX

To everyone's credit, no one had asked her how the session went when they first saw her. Whether it was out of respect for her privacy or they were afraid on how she would react, she was just thankful it was not a topic of conversation at the moment.

In fact, dinner had been one of the more enjoyable times throughout her time with the Avengers.

She looked across the large table and saw Rhodey and Sam talking about something she couldn't make out what they were discussing, maybe a bet of sorts as it looked as if Rhodey was very happy with himself and Sam arguing back. Vision the android sat beside her, he didn't eat like the rest of them but he had told her he enjoyed engaging in social interactions with them, helped make him understand better. To her other side she could see Natasha and Steve having their own conversation and much to her amusement it looked as if Steve was uncomfortable with where it was going as his face was very red from blushing.

She felt herself smile genuinely at the sight, this isn't where she thought she would end up a few years ago but it was nice.

Steve looked over at her and noticed the smile as well. "You seem in a good mood." He commented.

"I think Sam just lost $100 to Rhodey over the last football game." She replied motioning to the two avengers who were still bickering.

Steve laughed softly at the display before looking back at her. "I don't think that's it, but I'm happy you're doing better."

Wanda knew what he was implying but wasn't going to fall for it. "This pasta is really good Steve thanks." She said trying to get onto a different topic.

"Nice try but you've only eaten half of your dish." Wanda looked back down and realized he was right, she'd only eaten at best half of it while everyone else was on their second dish, or for Steve's case fourth.

Wanda mentally cursed the pizza she had earlier, she didn't plan on eating that much but when it was apparent Peter couldn't afford it she decided to share one with him.

"I was pleasantly surprised to learn they had offered food in group therapy, it seems there was at least one good thing to come about attending it. Must've spoiled my appetite." She quickly lied as she kept her eyes on the fork she was twirling in her hand.

Wanda saw Steve frown at her, she immediately felt guilty, as she knew that Steve forcing her to go wasn't malicious but was because he was worried about her. It was still something she had trouble adjusting too, having people who cared about you.

After her parent's death, all she had caring for her was Pietro for so many years, now with him gone it was easy to think she was all alone, but as she looked around at the table that feeling was quickly stomped on. This was in a way her second chance at a family.

"Sorry Steve, I appreciate your help with his but I'm just not sure if group therapy will help." She said.

Steve gave her a small smile. "I know, why don't you stick with it for a little bit longer, if you still feel the same way we can move on from it."

"I suppose that's fair." She grumbled pretending to be annoyed, but the small smile on her face gave her away.

"If I may interject." She heard Vision announce to her other side. "Ever since Captain Rogers has placed you in group therapy I've started to read a lot about it."

"And?" Wanda asked curiously.

"From what I've read most people who have spent a fair portion going have spoken about the success it has had in their struggles. A mother who had lost her son discussed the significance of speaking to individuals who had shared similar troubles." He continued to explain.

"I know that Vis, but I think I'll have trouble finding someone who can relate to having their brother gunned down in cold blood." She finished darkly, Wanda closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she could feel herself losing control, Steve had just offered her way out of the sessions, the last thing she needed was to lose control just two minutes afterward.

"To that specific situation no, but from what I've gathered after you've come back, you seem happier." Vision finished, and Wanda's eyes snapped open as she looked back at the purple android.

"I do?" She asked. She didn't feel any different.

"It's true." Natasha piped in. "You actually didn't complain when I told you we would be sparring, well not until after we were finished. Plus nothings have been broken yet."

"Also haven't seen you smile like that since we first settled down in the Compound," Steve added.

Wanda wanted to argue that it wasn't because of the silly session, she didn't even spend the entire time there, but as she thought about what they all were saying she couldn't help but notice it was true.

Normally when Natasha tells her they're going to training that day she would sigh heavily and mutter how much she didn't want to do it. Today when it was brought up she simply nodded and followed the woman to the training area without a word.

Maybe something did change, but the only thing different was spending time with Peter. It was nice talking to someone who didn't fear her for her powers or pity her because of her recent loss. He was just an innocent kid who looked at her as if she was a god for simply buying him food.

"Maybe your right, but I'm still not sure it's working." She answered quietly staring at her food in thought.

XXX

Wanda sighed for the fifth time in the last ten minutes as she stared at the door to the gymnasium. It was one week since she was here for her first session and she still shared the same sentiments, as before, she didn't want to be here.

It also didn't help she was very tired, last night she had another nightmare about her brother and she wasn't able to get much sleep afterward.

She looked at the clock on the wall and saw she still had a few more minutes before she was obligated to be inside.

Wanda heard the sound of footsteps quickly approaching; she looked away from the door and saw someone running down the hallway in her direction. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary student but as the kid came closer she recognized it was Peter.

Peter seemed to notice her too as he stopped running and slid to a stop not far from her. "Uh, hey." He said awkwardly waving at her.

"Hey yourself, going in?" She asked him motioning toward the door behind him.

He looked behind him at the door before turning back to her; he didn't look thrilled to be here also.

"Ye-yeah I guess." He said shrugging his shoulders.

Her phone pinging indicated she was out of time Wanda, finally made her way towards the door; she was about to reach for the handle before Peter spoke up.

"Wait!" He called out.

Wanda turned around to look back at him.

Once he realized he had her attention she saw him blush, clearly he hadn't thought through whatever he was doing.

"Yes?" She asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Um, uh want to grab something to eat?" He finally said after a few seconds of stammering,

Wanda raised an eyebrow at him, Peter was clearly not hungry and just trying to avoid going inside. Though he wasn't pulling it off as subtle as she had the previous week.

"I have a hard time believing you, especially with what you're holding in your hand." Wanda pointed to the brown paper bag clutched tightly in Peter's hand.

Peter glanced down and she could see his face turning red at being caught lying with a lunch bag in his hand.

"I, I just don't want to go inside," Peter said quietly, still looking down.

Wanda looked at the boy for a moment, she hadn't planned to make skipping the group therapy sessions a reoccurring thing, but as she saw how uncomfortable the boy looked at going inside she decided to take this opportunity.

She turned back towards the door and looked through the window. "It looks like they already started talking."

Peter's head perked up as she started talking.

She looked back at him a small smile on her face. "It would be rude of us to interrupt, we shouldn't bother them and just show up on time next week, right?"

Peter's eyes widened as he realized what she was implying and nodded immediately. "Of-of course! My aunt told me to not be rude."

XXX

They found a park close by the school, they didn't really talk much both comfortable with the silence. She watched beside her as Peter had taken out a sandwich out of his lunch bag and started ripping small pieces of bread and using it to feed close by pigeons.

Wanda inwardly shook her head as she wondered what the heck she was doing. Here she was sitting in a park beside a kid when she should be in therapy. She wasn't sure about the laws in this country but she had to imagine a nineteen-year-old adult hanging around a thirteen-year-old kid who she hardly knew had to be breaking some laws.

Of course, she was always a sucker for a kid giving her puppy dog eyes, it was like that back home, all it took was for one sad look and they had her wrapped around their finger. Pietro used to scold her on it back in Sokovia.

"I'm sorry." It was so quiet she was half sure she heard anything at all.

"What are you apologizing for?" Wanda asked turning her head towards Peter.

Peter looked down at what remained of his sandwich before throwing it in the trashcan beside the bench.

"You're supposed to be in therapy to help yourself, instead I selfishly dragged you here and making you watch me feed birds." He mumbled looking at his hands.

"You didn't _drag me here _Peter. I chose to be here." She replied softly.

"I know, just, you were going to help yourself, not keep me company." He further explained.

Wanda could see him struggling to say something. "It's just, I dunno, hard." He sighed heavily as he leaned back in his seat. "Just sitting there, listening to everyone talk about what they're going through. It sounds so mean to say, but what they went through-".

"Isn't the same as what you went through." He looked at her, from the shocked look he was giving her she knew she guessed right. "You aren't the only one who feels like that."

She sighed as the one thing she didn't want to do was talk about her emotions and feelings but as she saw Peter struggling she knew she had to do something to help.

"I felt like that last week, hearing about everyone's pain. It didn't make me feel any better, I already felt suffocated with what I already went through, than hearing about everyone else's is just too much." She finished as she stared in front of them to a close-by playground.

"I'm guessing you don't want to go to these weekly sessions?" Peter asked her.

"Smart boy." Wanda smiled at him. "You too?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah, my aunt felt as though I needed help with losing Be-." He paused, as he was about to say a name. He shook his head before continuing. "She found this group in my school's weekly news later and asked that I give it a try."

Wanda did wonder why he was going to sessions that were mainly adults. It made sense now that he was already going to that school. "My friend Steve sort of forced me to go here. Said it was either this or one on one therapy." She answered.

"So wait," Peter said as he narrowed his eyes in thought. "Were you using me to get out of the group last week?"

Wanda had the decency to blush at being caught red-handed. "Sorry." She mumbled looking away.

She was surprised to hear laughing, she at first assumed it was the children playing not too far away from her, she looked back and saw it was Peter instead. He looked as if he was trying to hold in his laughter, but he was failing miserably as little giggles were escaping. It was very infectious and Wanda couldn't help but giggle as well.

"What's so funny?" She asked when the laughter died down.

"It reminded me of what my aunt told me growing up. She would often use food to distract me whenever I would get too invested in a project I was working on." Peter explained.

"Building more computers?" Wanda asked.

Peter shook his head. "No, that would sound better though. It was Lego sets I would get as gifts. I would spend hours building the Lego Death Star and my aunt and uncle would try endlessly to make me take a break or go outside. Eventually, she realized the main way to get me to stop was if she told me she had food ready."

"When you told me that, it just reminded me of those moments." Peter had a happy look on his face as he recalled his past; Wanda noted it was a very nice smile.

"But now those happy moments seem so far away." Peter sighed, as quickly as the smile appeared was now gone.

Wanda started to feel even worse now, clearly, Peter had a lot more pain than he was just showing and right now she felt she was standing in the way of him feeling better. Now as she looked at him sadly on the bench, wondered if he was worst off now than he was an hour ago because of her.

"You have great friends," Peter said suddenly, breaking Wanda out of her inner turmoil.

"Sorry?" She said.

"You mentioned this Steve suggested you go to this, it's obvious he cares about you," Peter explained, she could see his eyes widen and he shook his head frantically. "Not that I'm implying in a romantic way at all! Just in a friendly sort of friendly way." He quickly double-tracked.

Wanda couldn't stop giggling at his behavior, she didn't take it in a romantic way either, but it was very amusing watching him panic thinking he somehow offended her.

"Don't worry Peter I knew what you meant." She quickly eased the boy. "Yes, as frustrating it was being forced to come here, I know Steve meant well. I do feel bad about lying to him about actually going to this."

"Same, when my aunt asked how my session went, I felt bad about lying. I just don't have the heart to tell her I just don't want to go." Peter replied.

He seemed to think for a moment before asking. "Are we bad people for lying? I mean they just want to help us."

Wanda thought for a moment. "Were not bad people Peter, yes they would probably be disappointed if they found out we weren't going, but that doesn't make us terrible."

Peter nodded to her words, whether they put his mind at ease she didn't know.

"I do feel better Wanda, I was completely dreading coming back here, but talking to you, it's made me feel better," Peter admitted.

Wanda was a little taken aback, earlier she was worried that her influence on him had left him feeling worse. "I'm glad to hear that, as odd as it is I do feel a lot better than I have felt the past few days." Even though the other Avengers had pointed out how much better she seemed she still had a lot of bad days, just the other night she had another nightmare about Pietro being killed by Ultron, she woke up to Steve shaking her awake.

Taking a deep breath Wanda could feel actual happiness, and not faking it, as she would usually do to appease the others. She glanced over at the boy beside her and saw him smiling and laughing at one of the actions a kid in front of them was doing. It was refreshing just talking to someone who didn't know about her powers, her past experience, or asking her countless times if she was alright. Peter just liked her as a person it seemed and enjoyed her company. Much of it she felt the same towards him.

"Do you have a phone?" Peter asked her.

Wanda was confused about why he was asking that but shrugged her shoulders before pulling out the phone that Steve gave her.

"Whoa, this is the new Stark tech phone," Peter said amazed at the device. "This hasn't even come out yet, how did you get this?" He asked her.

Wanda started to panic, saying she knew Tony Stark would either raise too many questions or make her look like a liar.

"I don't know actually. Steve gave it to me when I moved here, said to use it encase of an emergency." Wanda told him, it was technically the truth.

"So cool," Peter whispered seeming to be in awe of the phone; Wanda shook her head wondering how something so small could make him as happy as a puppy. She realized he was done with whatever he was doing as he handed it back to her.

She looked at the screen Peter left it on and saw a number she didn't recognize. "Is this yours?"

"Yup." Peter nodded. "It's just I feel better talking to you and I don't want to show up to another session and see you gone." Peter started to get nervous and rub the back of his neck with his hand. "But if you don't want some dorks number than that's okay you can delete, because I know how annoying it can, and you just met me-"

"Peter it's fine." Wanda interrupted. "I like talking to you as well."

"You sure?" Peter asked nervously.

Wanda nodded. "Of course, also I don't think of you as a dork, you're a good kid. With better manners, I had when I was your age."

Her words seemed to make him feel a little embarrassed as his face turned red. "Thanks, I'm just being polite."

"Since you seem to know about my phone better than me, mind telling what some of these buttons do?" Wanda asked.

Peters's face lit up at her words. "Sure!" He immediately scooted up the bench until their legs were touching and he leaned on her shoulder to get a better look at her phone. "The most important feature you want to learn is how to connect to the Wi-Fi anywhere."

XXX

They spent the next hour just talking, once her brain started to feel overwhelmed by all the technical information flying out of Peter's mouth they moved onto to simpler topics.

She shared with him that she would start lessons soon on how to learn to play the guitar, about movie night she and other Avengers had weekly, Peter immediately made several suggestions to films she had no idea what they were but made note to remember some of them at least and other aspects of her personal life.

Peter shared with her that he lived with just his aunt in Queens, was very smart, especially when it came to science, along with being a huge fan of a movie called Star Wars. He even suggested a few places they could go next week, one of which was a must-try sandwich shop which made the sandwiches in all of New York.

The topics discussed weren't serious or too personal but that was more than fine with her. It felt relaxing just talking to someone ordinary, without powers or knows she was an Avenger.

But soon her phone beeped indicating she was getting picked up soon. She said goodbye to Peter and promised to message him later in the week. She could see the boy looked excited. She felt a small ache in her chest as it reminded her of the smile Pietro would give her on certain days, but she quickly pushed down the memory.

She didn't wait long in front of the school before a familiar black car rolled up in front of her. She didn't even wait for the driver to open the door for her before she climbed inside.

It wasn't until she was halfway in that she noticed that there was someone else inside. She quickly recognized who it was; no one she knew wore sunglasses at all times, and wore the most ridiculous of suits. The only question was why was he here now?

"Stark?"

**AUTHORS NOTE: Wanda and Peter are starting to realize how much they enjoy being with one another, but it'll take time before they're comfortable around one another to talk about their loved one's death. Right now they're both using one another as a distraction.**

**I'm a big fan of the relationship between Tony and Peter, but I didn't want to make just another IronDad fanfic, so I figured having their relationship still happen here, but Peters's main relationship will still be with Wanda, who'll offer him a different kind of support. Especially when she learns about his powers.**


	3. Chapter 3

Finding Hope Through Grief

Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I've made an opening offer; until they get back to me Disney and Marvel still own the rights and characters.**

"Stark?" Wanda asked confused about why the man was in the car. She hadn't seen Tony Stark since when she first moved into the Compound. Steve and Natasha said he was too busy enjoying retired life to bother coming here. Guess they were wrong.

"Maximoff," Tony said nonchalantly.

"What are you doing here?" Wanda asked after she got over her initial surprise of seeing the man.

Tony looked around the car as if he was searching for something before turning back to her. "I believe this IS my car. So the better question would be, why are you in my car?" He asked back, with a smug smile on his face.

Wanda sighed in frustration she had no patience for his games. Instead of answering back she sat in her seat and put on her seat belt before Stark motioned for the driver to leave the school.

"Sheesh, the silent treatment? I know we're not exactly on a friend to friend basis but I thought you'd at least be civil with me." Tony remarked not taking his eyes off his phone.

Wanda sighed heavily; she did not need this now. She was looking forward to some peace and alone time. Though she figured since they weren't enemies anymore the least she could do was be polite.

"I just didn't expect to see you." She said quietly staring out the window watching the buildings passing by her view.

She could see Stark at the reflection of her window looking up at her. "Figured I'd escape the city life and enjoy some nice relaxation time in the Compound…The one I paid for." Tony added pointedly.

One of the cons, or pros depending on her mood was her power gave her the ability to get a sense of how people were feeling. If she focused hard enough she could read someone's mind, but if she didn't then she could only feel very strong emotions. In this instance she could just feel sadness radiating off the man, so much so that just passively using her powers she could feel it.

Wanda frowned as she tried to think why the man would be so sad, a quick glance at his reflection and he seemed fine; in fact, he still had his annoying humor. She mentally shrugged, as there was nothing she could do about it. Actually she could read his mind and find out why he was feeling that way, but she felt she was beyond using her powers that selfishly. All the times she told herself she didn't want to talk about what was bothering, it would make her the biggest hypocrite if she tried to poke her nose in Tony's business.

"Is this a day trip or?" She asked, playing along.

Tony looked away from his phone, as he seemed to ponder how to answer. "Not sure, thinking the rest of the summer. Make sure you all are in tip-top shape to save the world."

"Making sure your money isn't being wasted you mean?" Wanda mused.

"Well, I did pay for the building, the vehicles, the staff, and the appliances too…so yeah." Tony replied a giant smirk on his face.

Wanda rolled her eyes at him, but not before giving him a small smile.

"Ah-ha! So you do know how to smile." Tony said while trying to take a picture of it before Wanda used her hand to block the phone.

"Only because you're annoying," Wanda grumbled crossing her arms.

"Come on, I know I can be annoying." Wanda quickly nodded to that. " But considering we saved the world together I think that at least means we're on a friendly basis."

Wanda had to admit he had a point, her joining the Avengers meant she'd let go of any previous anger she had towards them and specifically Tony. If she made an effort with the ones living in the Compound with her, she figured she should do the same with the billionaire.

"I guess we should make an effort." She hesitantly admitted.

Tony seemed to perk up a bit at her words and she could also feel the waves of sadness radiating off of him decrease slightly.

"So I'm quite curious, what were you doing in the city?" Tony asked her.

"Steve didn't tell you?" Wanda questioned, but Tony just shook his head.

"Said it wasn't his place to say or something like that, come on Maximoff give me your deep dark secrets. Going to the movies? Watching a baseball game? Victoria Secret?" Tony continued to press.

"Therapy," Wanda said interrupting him. Everyone already knew it would only be a matter of time before he did as well.

She expected to hear some remark or joke about it but he was silent. In fact, she could feel the sadness in him growing. She clenched her fist at the thought that he pitied her.

"I was always against therapy, thought if I wanted to waste money that I might as well waste it on women, drinking and gambling." He suddenly said, she could see he'd taken his glasses off. "Then Pepper." He sighed heavily at the mention of her name; Wanda wondered if she was the cause of his sadness. "Pepper came to me crying that she couldn't bear to watch me suffer anymore."

"So you went to therapy because of her?" Wanda asked.

"At the beginning, just to satisfy her and not have to actually go a real therapist I went to the one person who constantly controls his emotions, Bruce Banner." Wanda couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable around the mention of The Hulk; she still felt a lot of guilt for what she did to him weeks ago.

"Then I realized how much better it was talking to someone about it, even if they weren't a real therapist. So I decided to try one in the city, talked to her about my fears, PTSD and other problems I was going through." Tony admitted.

"Tony I'm sorry, what I did back in Sokovia messing with your mind, the things I made you see-." But Tony just shook his head.

"You didn't know any better, back then I was the asshole who you thought killed your parents. Heck if someone killed my parents and I was in the same room with them, I think I'd do whatever I could to make them feel just as hurt as I did." Tony said darkly.

"Regardless, if I wasn't blinded by my anger then so much could've been avoided," Wanda admitted. She knew nothing she did could make up for what she did in the past working with Ultron, but the Avengers gave her an opportunity to help people right now.

"If I wasn't blinded by my arrogance then I would've noticed my weapons being sold to warlords and terrorists," Tony added, a small smile on his face.

"If I didn't know any better, I think I just heard the great Tony Stark admit he made a mistake." Wanda mused.

"Seriously?" Tony pretended to huff in anger. "And here I thought we were having a moment."

Wanda broke out laughing at this point; it was just too funny joking at Tony's expense.

"I'm sorry, just from what I heard about you in Sokovia, to see this side of you is strange," Wanda admitted.

"Well, I think it's safe to say I earned that reputation. We both made mistakes Wanda, I guess we're both trying to move on and using the Avengers to do so." Tony said, he started to rummage through the cooler in the car and pulled out a water bottle. "But we can't help anyone if we can't help ourselves, so that means putting down the bottles for this." He motioned to the bottle of water. " And learning how to deal with our inner demons." He then motioned to her.

Wanda thought about Tony's words, he was right. If she wanted to be able to help people, she needed to help herself. How she did not know. But, as she thought about her friendship with Peter, she had to admit talking to him had made her feel better. She still had bad days but she noticed she smile more, laughed and in a better mood.

She looked forward to seeing him next week.

XXX

Peter was a bundle of excitement, May had just texted him that she would be working a double shift so that meant she wouldn't be home until the early morning the next day. Which meant that he could stay out and finally get started on his training.

"Excuse me, sorry!" He apologized as he ran past people; the subway would be too slow to the docks so he started running through the streets.

Since the spider bite, he'd been having weird moments, at random times objects would stick to his hands and even once he woke up and found himself hanging on the ceiling. Whatever was going on he needed to understand it better and as someone who took pride in his abilities in science, he figured the one way to figure it out was testing his powers.

He finally arrived at his destination; it was an abandoned warehouse at the docks. The company had run out of business and was forced to close. It was up for sale but until someone bought it, it was empty.

He quickly looked around to make sure he was alone before he started to climb the fence. It wasn't anything special but it still amazed the things he could do now, Peter remembered the embarrassing class in gym where he couldn't even climb a foot of rope and now here he was scaling a tall chain-link fence as if it was nothing.

He quickly made his way to the other side and walked over to the front entrance. He was disappointed to see it was locked, not surprising but inconvenient. He looked to see if there were any open windows but didn't see any. He looked at the front door and sighed before grabbing the doorknob.

"What better way to test my strength," Peter said to himself. He expected the door to be quite difficult to break, so he put everything he had to pull. What he didn't expect was for the handle to actually break off, it caught him by surprise and he ended up falling on his back.

"Guess I'm stronger than I originally guessed." Peter groaned getting off the ground. He moved closer to the door and was amazed at the fact he was able to rip off the door handle easily.

He quickly opened the door and stepped inside before closing it behind him. Save for a few large crates the warehouse was practically empty. It didn't matter, Peter would make use of what he could, and hopefully get a better idea of the powers he had.

Walking over to one of the crates, he decided the safest would be to test his strength. He took a deep breath, the crate looked as if it weighed fifty or sixty pounds. He placed both hands on the side.

"Come on Peter, you can do it." He reassured himself before pushing.

Peter grunted as he was met with resistance, the crate was a lot heavier than he originally thought. Sweat started to pour down his face, he bit his lip in frustration, after two minutes he started to doubt whether or not he actually had powers, what if it wasn't real? What if he wasn't actually special?

That's when he felt the crate start to move, Peters's eyes widened. Did he do that? He continued pushing and the crate continued to move. Soon he was moving at a steady pace.

"I can't believe!" Peter was astonished, he did have super strength! Scrawny Peter Parker actually had super strength! He thought back to all the bullies that picked on him for being the tiniest and weakest in class, how he was always the target when it came to dodge ball, now look at him.

Peter kept pushing the crate until he hit the wall on the other side of the warehouse. He let go and wiped his forehead of sweat. He was taking a few heavy breaths but he didn't feel tired. He wanted to keep going!

He moved over to another crate and started pushing it, it took a minute but once he started to gain momentum it was quickly on the other side of the warehouse with the other. He continued with the others until all the crates were all on the same side. Even seeing it now he couldn't believe he'd actually done it. With each attempt, the doubt in his mind told him it was a fluke, or it wasn't actually made of hardwood, but each doubt was squashed down with each crate he pushed.

Satisfied, he decided to move on to the part that terrified him the most, climbing. Peter wasn't even sure he could climb; he was basing his assumption in his experiences with items sticking to his hands and the one time he found himself on his ceiling after waking up.

He found himself facing the wall; he raised his left hand and placed it on the concrete wall. Peter didn't feel anything different, but at the same time when he found objects stuck to his hand, he didn't notice the feeling. He gently pulled and was disappointed to see his hand wasn't stuck to the wall. He looked down at his hand then back to the wall. He repeated placing his hand on the wall and pulling to see if it stuck but every time was disappointed to see it didn't. After the tenth time, he started to get desperate and thought maybe voice activation would work.

"Sticky powers activate!" It didn't work.

"Applying sticky hands!" Still didn't work.

"Go go glue hands?" At this point he just looked silly.

"Oh come on, work you stupid thing!" Peter slammed the palm of his hand against the wall, the portion of it cracking a bit. He took a few breaths before pulling back, only to meet resistance.

"Huh?" Peter looked up and saw his hand was firmly in place.

"Okays, let's try the other one." Peter looked nervously at the other hand before placing it on the wall, and much like the other, it was stuck in place.

"Alright maybe if I just focus on what I want it to do it'll work," Peter told himself; at that moment he focused all his thoughts on retracting whatever was keeping his hands firmly on the wall. After a moment he cheered in glee as he pulled his hands free.

Now that his first test was a success now he needed to see what he was capable of, that meant trying to climb. Peter took a few deep breaths to calm down before placing his hands on the wall. He then raised one hand above his head, higher up the wall. He then did the same with the other and was soon pulling himself up the wall.

"Oh wow, I'm actually doing it!" Peter told himself, he was amazed he was actually doing it! Not only was he defying the laws of nature, but also he was doing with an incredible amount of upper body strength.

Peter could feel himself getting tired; he was about to start climbing down before he looked at his dangling legs. If his hands had the ability to stick to objects then maybe his feet could as well? The night he found himself hanging upside down on all fours he was wearing socks, so maybe he could stick with shoes on? He placed both feet on the wall and tried climbing on all fours. It was a bit weird but he quickly found a rhythm and soon found himself on the ceiling.

"Oh wow, I actually did it! This is so cool!" Peter felt ecstatic; never in his life did he think he'd be able to accomplish the things he did today. All the days he'd be out of breath running, getting hit in dodge ball or getting knocked down by the bigger boys, all that was over, nothing could take him down!

It was when Peter was about to climb down did he notice how high up he was. He'd meant to only climb a few feet but he'd gotten to wrap up in his excitement to notice he reached the ceiling. He could feel himself hyperventilating as he continued to look down, it seemed as if the longer he looked the higher up it got. If there was one thing Peter knew powers couldn't change it was his fear of heights.

Unfortunately, due to his fears plaguing his mind he'd forgotten to focus on hanging on. He felt his grip on his hands and feet slacken and he found himself falling. Peter tried flailing his arms to try and grab a hold of something but he was too far away.

The only saving grace was that a crate below cushioned his fall but he still crashed through and landed hard on the ground. Peter screamed in pain as his entire body felt like it was on fire. Every single joint in his body hurt to even think about moving, it hurt to even breath. After a few agonizing minutes he managed to look down to see how badly he was injured, his eyes widened as he saw his arms cut up from the wood and were bleeding. He tried desperately to get up but his body didn't have the strength. In fact, his eyesight was starting to become shaky, he had trouble focusing, perhaps he could add a concussion to the list of injuries.

Peter knew he needed serious medical treatment; he had to call May for help. He bit his lip as pain shot through his arm trying to reach his backpack. His arm fell limp as he lost any remaining strength he had, he could feel his vision start to darken. He made one last attempt to grab his phone but he just didn't have it in him. His eyes quickly followed as they closed and he passed out.

XXX

Wanda rubbed her forehand with her hand as she could feel a headache coming, and she had a certain annoying billionaire to thank for that.

Once they had arrived at the Avengers Compound Tony had made a grand entrance much to the surprise of the other Avengers, not even Steve was aware he was visiting. It had been a few days since and Tony had quickly made his presence known as he ordered his A.I Friday to start playing his soundtrack. Which hadn't stopped playing.

"_Shoot to thrill, play to kill. _

"Too many women with too many pills_." _Wanda sang along before realizing what she just did. Great, she was remembering the lyrics and singing along to it. That's how many times she'd heard the damn song the past few days.

Though part of that was Steve's fault, he'd happily suggested that since Tony was here and the team was currently in between missions that they spend the next few evenings together.

She could only feign excitement for so long, but all she wanted to do was lie in her bed and not think about anything for a few hours.

"Friday can you please turn that damn music off?" She heard Sam call out from the other side of the room. The man was reaching the end of his patience it seemed.

"Sorry, Mr. Wilson but only boss can request that," Friday announced.

"How the hell did you deal with him being your roommate for four years? I'm ready to kill him and it's only been two days." Sam complained to Rhodey.

She heard Rhodey laugh, him being Tony's oldest friend he was probably the only one not affected by the man's antics.

"Earplugs are great, and usually I'd point him in the direction of a pretty woman. He was like a dog going after a bone." Rhodey chuckled.

"I resent that," Tony commented walking up to them and ordering Friday to turn off the music. "They always came to me."

Rhodey raised an amused eyebrow. "Oh really? If I recall there was a Suzy Brown who rejected you in Physic's class and after that in spite sat next to her every day."

Tony scoffed at that. "She clearly wasn't right in the head and I just wanted to fix that."

"You mean she had the common sense to stay away from you? Seems to me she was thinking clearly." Sam laughed much to the embarrassment of the billionaire.

"You know, just for that comment, I'm going to play my favorite song on repeat. Friday." He called out to his A.I.

"Yes, boss." It replied before Shoot to Thrill came back on.

Wanda groaned as the song came back, her head was pounding away from the headache she had and it was putting her in a bad mood. Maybe someone could take her mind off it, she looked behind her on the couch and saw Steve and Natasha were occupied with a conversation of their own, Vision seemed to be engrossed in a book he was reading, there was nothing to take her mind off this. There wasn't any to talk too.

She stood up and started walking out of the room.

"Everything alright Wanda?" She heard Steve ask right when she was at the door.

She looked over at him and Natasha and gave them a fake smile. "I'm just tired, I'm going to bed."

They both had unsure looks on their faces, it wasn't uncommon for her to lie about how she was feeling and considering one was a spy she knew most of the time they didn't believe her.

"Alright, have a goodnight." Steve nodded.

Wanda didn't waste a second as she quickly walked out of the room; it wasn't long before she was in her room changing into her sleeping clothes. Her head was pounding and every time she moved it only made it worse. She shut off the lights and climbed into bed hoping she'd be able to have a good night's rest for once.

XXX

_It was like an ordinary night, the four of them sat along a table eating dinner. Her parents asking them how their days were, Pietro, recounting his day playing with the other boys in the building in a game of soccer, and she would quickly follow it up with the parts that he exaggerated. It was home for her._

_That's when they heard a big sound almost like a rocket. It wasn't unusual to hear sounds like that, she was used to hearing guns and machines outside. Her father was the first to react he stood up and motioned for the two of them to go to bed. He must've figured if they were asleep then they wouldn't hear the fighting going on. _

_Before either of them could move a loud explosion was heard underneath them, causing the room to shake uncontrollably. She fell off her seat and cried out for her parents. _

_That's when she saw the ground start to open up around them, her eyes looked on in horror as the ground underneath her parents broke apart and they both fell into the hole, they're screaming the only thing she could hear._

_She screamed for her father and mother hoping they were okay, but they never came back up. She felt her brother pick her and carry her away from the hole. She wiggled and tried to break out of his grip so she could go back, to see if her parents were okay, but she knew deep down they were gone, they lived in the tenth floor, no one could survive a fall that big. _

_Her brother carried them under the bed; she felt tears in her eyes as she continued to scream for her parents, Pietro holding onto her as she cried. It wasn't until she heard something crash through the wall that she quieted down, she saw a shell mortar land in front of her, she knew it was going to explode and kill them. She closed her eyes and held onto her brother tightly._

_It didn't go off, after a minute she opened her eyes slowly and just saw the shell lying there. She asked her brother when it would go off but he had no idea, he was just as confused. It wasn't until what felt like hours passed did they both think it was defected. They stayed underneath the bed in fear that any sudden movement would cause it to explode._

_She remembered most was the fear; the fear that we each sound and each brick their rescuers made would set it off. She'd never felt so hopeless in her entire life. The only thing that gave her so form of comfort was her brother who was holding on to her tightly, she would never let Pietro go._

XXX

Wanda gasped as she woke up, she could feel her entire body shaking at the nightmare she experienced. All she could see was darkness, she hastily crawled over to her lamp and switched it on, the sight of her room and not her old home helped her calm down. She raised a hand to her face and could feel the tears, she'd been crying in her sleep.

"Are you alright Ms. Maximoff?" She heard the A.I ask her.

Wanda continued to breathe heavily and was just trying to calm herself down, no matter how many times she relieved the same memory it still affected her just as hard.

"Shall I notify Steve Rogers of your distress?" The A.I further pressed.

"N- no." She was finally able to say after her breath evened out. She didn't want to see anyone right now.

She looked at the clock on her nightstand and saw that she'd only managed to get two hours of sleep. She groaned as she knew from past experience she wasn't going to get any sleep after this, which would lead her to look tired and followed by everyone realizing why she looked so tired.

She hit the mattress in frustration, she was getting tired of these nightmares and she was getting tired of feeling like a victim from everyone.

It wasn't until she saw her table floating that she realized that she was using her powers, she closed her eyes and put the table down.

She threw the blankets off and grabbed her robe, at this point she couldn't fall asleep and as she glanced over her room she didn't see much to distract her. She bit her lip as she eyed her door, it wouldn't surprise her if Friday notified Steve or Natasha if she left her room in the middle of the night and right now she didn't want to talk to either of them. They both believed she was getting better and she wanted them to continue that.

She eyed her phone sitting on the table.

"Right, because you have so many people you can call and talk too." She scolded herself shaking her head, the only numbers she had were her teammates. Except.

She grabbed her phone and went through it until she was on Peters contact page, she bit her nervously, did she want to do this? He didn't know about her nightmares and would probably think this was just a social call. She hovered her thumb over the call button and pressed it.

She placed the phone on her ear as she heard it ringing; it wasn't until the tenth ring that she figured he was asleep. She sighed, as she would have to think of something else, maybe she could reread the Harry Potter series Sam had gotten her as a gift?

"Hello?" She suddenly heard it took her a moment to realize it was Peter's voice.

**AUTHORS NOTE: The scene with Tony and Wanda was very difficult because I was trying to write Tony in a way that didn't seem very out of character, I think I got it right. I also felt that since he's had to deal with the loss of his parents, his mentor betraying him and the PTSD that he would be someone Wanda could connect with on that type of level. I definitely didn't want there to be any anger or hostility between them as I think they've both moved on from the Ultron event.**

**Peters starting to figure out what he's capable of and what the next step for him will be. Right now the idea of putting on a costume and fighting crime isn't on his mind as he's still getting used to the idea of having powers, but he will soon.**

**Little side note, I've been noticing more and more Peter/Wanda stories being made, always nice to see other people enjoy this pairing. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Finding Hope Through Grief

Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: My initial bid has been rejected, they've counter-offered with $150 billion…Going to check my piggy bank, but right now they still own the rights.**

Peter groaned as he heard a ringing sound coming not far from his head, he always hated being woken up by the alarm, it always meant he had school today. With his eyes still closed he tried to reach for his phone, only he didn't find it, all he felt was cold concrete.

His eyes opened wide as his last memory came to mind, he was falling, and he was hurt, how long was he unconscious? He sat up slowly, expecting his body to be in intense pain, but there wasn't any. His body felt a little stiff but for the most part, he was fine. His first thought was maybe his mind playing tricks on him when he landed hard on the ground, he saw a few patches of dried up blood beside him. A quick glance at his body and he didn't see any cuts or bruises.

Peter was certain when he fell unconscious he was seriously hurt, he was bleeding, his body was in terrible pain and he was positive he had a concussion, now they were all gone.

"Did the spider bite do this?" Peter asked himself, if he had super healing along with super strength and climbing onto any surfaces then this was just getting better and better!

Before Peter could get any more excited at the notion of more powers the ringing was still persisting. It took him a moment to realize it wasn't his alarm, but his cell phone, someone was calling him.

"Oh no! Its probably May, I must've been knocked out for hours, she's probably worried death." Peter was trying to get through his bag pack contents as quickly as possible but he was panicking.

He quickly found his phone and nearly dropped it in the haste he was in, his earlier panic soon washed away when he saw it wasn't his aunt calling him, it was a number he didn't recognize.

"Hello?" He asked unsure who was on the other line.

"Hi, Peter." Peter knew instantly who it was, he wanted to smack himself on the head for forgetting he gave Wanda his number.

"Oh hi Wanda, how are you?" He asked as he started packing up his bag.

"I'm well, you sound a little busy am I interrupting something?" Wanda asked.

"What? N- no! I'm just packing up and…leaving my friend's place." Peter lied as he zipped his bag up and slipped his arms through the straps.

"This late?" She asked unsurely.

Peter moved the phone from his ear to get a look of the time on his screen, his eyes nearly bulged out when he saw it was midnight, he'd been unconscious for eight hours!

"Peter?" She asked again, he could hear a little concern in her voice.

"Ye-yeah, it's no big deal!" He tried to shrug off. "It's a safe neighborhood and I only live a few blocks away." Peter lied, he made sure to mute himself while he opened and closed the heavy door. In truth, he was probably a good forty minutes away from home.

"I may not know a lot of New York but I was always told to be careful, there are a lot of crimes that happen here." She replied.

"Pfffft, I'll be fine," Peter answered confidently, and he did mean it. With his powers, no one could hurt him.

"So…How come you called?" Peter asked quickly changing the subject.

He could hear her pause slightly and he thought for a moment the connection might've been broken. "I couldn't sleep, and everyone else I know is asleep too."

"I guess you're lucky I was awake." Peter chuckled.

"My friend has a couple of kids and they're always trying to stay up as long as possible. Figured you might be the same, though you do seem like the type that doesn't like to break the rules and would follow a bedtime schedule." Peter could hear her laughing on the other end.

"Hey!" Peter exclaimed. "I'll have you know I stay up all the time."

"Like when?" She mused.

"Like the time I was out late and wanted to buy mi-" Peter stopped talking as he realized he was about to explain the same night that uncle Ben died. A pit formed in his throat at the thought. Since his death, he'd tried to push back down the memory of the events leading up to it, he hadn't talked to anyone about it, not even with May.

"Still there, Peter?" Wanda asked.

Peter nodded his head unable to speak, before realizing she couldn't actually see him. "Ye-yeah, I'm fine."

"Alright if you're sure." She replied unsurely.

"Um, as I was saying, I went out late to buy milk." Peter rushed out trying to say it quickly.

"Milk?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yeeeeeah." Peter quickly realized how stupid it sounded without any context; he needed a good lie to make him look better, something cool, and something that'll make him look mature. "I only had white milk, so I went out to get chocolate milk." Peter closed his eyes and bit his lip to stop himself from screaming in frustration at what he just said. The brick wall to his right looked like a good place to bang his head-on.

Peter could hear laughter coming from the phone; he clearly made a complete fool of himself, just like he always did in school. Now Wanda was going to realize how big of a loser he is.

Finally, after a minute the laughing seems to calm down. "I'm sorry." She said in between laughs. "It's just I remember the things I did when I stayed out late and buying milk was the last thing I had in mind." If anything she started to laugh even harder.

Even though she wasn't here in person Peter couldn't stop the blush from appearing on his face and wanting to hide in the closes manhole he could find.

"It's cute." She finally said after she appeared to calm down.

Peter could still feel the blush on his face, he didn't know why but he knew it wasn't from embarrassment.

"So, wh-what did you do late at night?" He asked a bit curious.

"There was a lot," Wanda said as she pondered about what she did when she was younger. "I remember going to a few bars when I was sixteen, a few party's, making out with a couple of guys and um went skinny dipping a few times too."

Peter could feel his entire body flushing red, he'd never met anyone who was so open about their kissing and nude escapades, not that he knew anyone who did stuff like that.

"Ski-skinny d-d-dipping?" Peter asked nervously.

"Well it wasn't always planned, sometimes we'd sneak into some guys back yard and see his pool, couldn't really go all the way back home to grab my swimsuit." She explained as if there was nothing wrong about sneaking into someone's property.

"You trespassed as well?" Peter asked.

"It's not like we snuck into the persons home, just used their pool." She answered nonchalantly. "Besides, there aren't many places to go swimming back home, had to take any opportunity I could."

"Well definitely beats my late-night dairy activities." Peter snorted in amusement.

"Well you're only thirteen, you'll have a few adventures of your own in a few years," Wanda reassured.

"I doubt I'll break into someone's property and defile said person's pool with my um...body." Peter finished lamely.

"You make me sound like a terrible person." Wanda chuckled.

Peter couldn't help but laugh a little. "Well I wouldn't go that far, but you're no saint."

"Brat."

"Oh, how original." Peter laughed.

"At least I'm taller than you." Wanda jabbed back.

This time Peter had to admit his pride took a hit; his height or lack there-of was always an easy target. Once he hit puberty he'd be well over six feet, right?

He noticed his apartment building was a block away, he glanced at the time on his phone to see that they'd been talking for the last half-an-hour. It didn't feel like they were talking for that long.

He heard a sudden yawn from Wanda.

"I guess you're getting tired, here I thought you were used to staying up." Peter mused as he unlocked the front door to his building.

"Brat. We all get tired." Another yawn escaped her lips.

"Wanda I would like your opinion on something." A voice Peter didn't recognize said.

"Vis! We talked about this!" He heard Wanda responded in surprise. Peter was a bit torn on asking if she was alright, or staying quiet and staying out of this. Wanda luckily removed any choices he had. "Sorry, Peter got to go, bye!"

The line between the two disconnecting signalling she hung up. Peter frowned in confusion as he entered his apartment. It was unusual the way she ended it so abruptly like she was hiding something, but he just shrugged it off and let it go. Though he did wonder what kind of name "Vis" was, certainly not a common one he ever heard of. He couldn't even think of a name it could be short for.

Peter sighed in relief when he saw the apartment was empty. May was still at work but he wasn't used to staying out late, and so he feared a little bit that she'd be waiting at home somehow and ready to berate him for going out.

He entered his bedroom and closed the door behind him. He sat on his bed and took off his shoes, he was about to lie down and sleep when a box on his desk caught his eye.

The same box that's been sitting on his desk since Bens passing. He didn't know what was inside as it was a couple of items May felt he should have, that belonged to Ben. Peter didn't have it in him to open it, most of the time thinking of his uncle brought up the memories of that night, sometimes he would hear a loud sound and it would remind him of the gunshot.

He sighed as he fell onto his side, with his back facing the box. He wasn't going to open it tonight and he wasn't sure when he would ever find the strength to do so.

XXX

Wanda ended the call and threw it onto her bed; it took everything in her to raise her voice in frustration toward the purple and green android. She wasn't sure if she was more upset at the fact that Vision had just entered her bedroom through phasing through the wall or interrupting a very nice conversation she was having with Peter.

"Apologizes Wanda, I saw the bedroom light on, so I assumed…" The android paused as he saw the clear look of irritation on her face, he knew instantly he made a mistake.

She sighed, as she knew she shouldn't be too harsh on Vis, he was only created a few weeks ago and was still learning about proper human etiquettes. She figured the fact she had a nightmare about her parent's death was part of the reason she was a tad more upset than usual.

"Was there something you needed?" She asked calmly after taking a deep breath.

Vision smiled, as it seemed she wasn't upset with him anymore. "Yes, since Mr. Starks's arrival, he has been quite a persistence with having me try alcoholic beverages. Despite the fact I've told him multiple times that I don't need to consume such liquids for my survival." Wanda then noticed that he had bottles of liquor, one in each hand.

"So you've finally gotten tired of his nagging?" Wanda mused, entertained by the fact that even Stark could annoy a machine.

"Well, Ms. Romanov has suggested I humor him, and I quote _to get him to finally shut up about it_." Wanda couldn't help but snort at Visions words; yeah she would probably do the same, that or break his favorite coffee maker.

"Pass them here." She motioned for him to hand over the bottles. In her left was a bottle of scotch and in the other was vodka. She placed the bottle of vodka on her nightstand and opened the scotch.

"First off, don't drink vodka on its own, always mix it with something. I usually use orange juice or anything fruity." Vision nodded at her words, she half expected him to start writing this down but he was a machine and would probably remember this word for word. "Scotch on the other hand." She poured it down her mouth and took a small sip. "This is quite good, but needs to be drunk in small portions."

She handed the bottle the android and watched as he hesitated before bringing the bottle to his mouth and taking a small sip. "By my readings, I'm finding it very difficult to see why anyone would enjoy this type of beverage." He said handing the bottle back.

"It's an acquired taste, either you like it or don't." She said as she took another sip, it tasted really good. She couldn't remember the last time she drank alcohol.

"So it seems." Vision nodded. "Again I apologize for interrupting your phone call, I'm going to go back to my room. I guess I'll use the door?" He said unsurely, it was easier to just phase through the wall but common courtesy meant using the door.

"Goodnight Vis." Wanda said as she placed the bottle on her nightstand and was about to climb to bed.

Vision paused as he stood in the doorway and looked back towards her. "Wanda, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Who is Peter?" He asked.

"He is a friend from therapy." She answered honestly, even though she hadn't gone to any of the sessions she did technically meet him in the group.

"I'm happy for you Wanda, I truly am." Vision said before closing the door behind him.

Wanda looked on in confusion, she wasn't sure what Vis meant by that. Was he happy that she made a friend? She shrugged as maybe it was one of his off quirks and that he was still learning to properly engage in social interactions.

She was about to shut off the lights and try to go back to sleep, but then she saw the bottle of scotch sitting on her bed. She grabbed it and looked at it for a moment, wouldn't hurt to take a small sip, it would calm her nerves.

XXX

Wanda ducked as another fist sailed over her head, another was soon coming straight at her head and she raised her forearm to block the attack. She hissed in pain as her forearm made contact but quickly brushed off the pain and pushed her attacker away, giving both some distance.

It was another one sparring session with Natasha; only the key difference was that Wanda had been able to keep up with her for the entire session. She'd felt pride in her as she'd been able to counter almost all of Natasha's attacks, she still had a few small bruises but as she looked at the redheads cut lip and bruised cheek she smiled to herself knowing her opponent was just as sore.

They were currently circling one another on the mat, this was the closest Wanda had come to finally beating the Black Widow, she thought if she could finally beat her then that would convince Steve and her that she was ready to start training with her powers.

Right now she was fine with letting her opponent making the first move, she felt she was better at reacting to her moves than the other way around. Sensing that she wasn't going to make the first move Natasha quickly charged at Wanda.

She was prepared for this; she raised her arms in front of her ready for the attack. Natasha only had two paths to attack her, straight on or to her left. There was a wall to her right, which made it easier to narrow down how she would be attacked.

As she was right on top of her Natasha did something that Wanda didn't anticipate. She was running straight at her but right before she was in striking range she made a small jump and placed her feet on the wall and quickly gaining height. It looked as if she was running on the wall. Caught in surprise by the maneuver she didn't raise her arms in time to block the kick to her face.

Wanda grunted in pain as her head twisted to the side from impact and fell on the mat below. She groaned in pain as she could instantly feel a headache and her eyesight was so disorienting that she had to close them just to stop all the spinning.

"That's a cheap move." She bit out, still lying on the ground.

She heard a small chuckle coming from above her. "Well, you've countered all the regular moves I had to change things up," Natasha said.

Wanda could feel Natasha grab her arm and gently pull her up. Wanda finally opened her eyes tried standing, she wobbled a little, still a little disorientated from the hit to the head. The older woman guided her to a nearby bench and sat her down.

She rubbed her head as the headache seemed to be getting worse, she remembered now why she always hated sparring, her body always felt like crap soon after it was over.

"Here," Natasha said handing her a bottle of water and a few pain relievers.

Wanda gladly took them and swallowed the pills. Another plus to joining the avengers was the state of the art medication. Considering the fact the Compound was equipped to treat a super solider and a god, normal medicine wouldn't cut it and Tony had hired doctors to create stronger medication. Which meant she could already feel her headache go away.

"Less grumpy now?" Natasha quipped.

Wanda nodded before drinking more water; she did feel better, even if she just got her butt kicked for the hundredth time now.

"I thought I almost had you that time." She said when she put the water bottle down.

"Almost." Natasha mused before taking a sip from her bottle. "Take it as a compliment I had to try something different to beat you this time."

Wanda rolled her eyes at her statement. "My aching head doesn't feel it's a compliment."

"Can't appease everyone," Natasha said shaking her head amusedly. "On a serious note, you have greatly improved since we first started."

"Still didn't beat you," Wanda grumbled.

Natasha gave the woman a small smile; it was instances like this where she was reminded Wanda was still very young. "The point of our spars wasn't for you to beat me."

Wanda hung her head, that wasn't making her feel better.

"Wanda," Natasha said, and Wanda looked up o see her staring back at her.

"I've been trained to fight almost my entire life, I've learned any type of fighting styles there, and you've only learned how to spar a few weeks ago."

Wanda nodded her head to that, it did make sense, but it didn't mean she couldn't feel frustrated sometimes.

Natasha broke her out her thoughts by tapping her knee. "Besides the point of all of this was to make you're not as reliant on your powers and give yourself another form of defending yourself."

Wanda knew she was right, there would be situations were maybe her powers weren't working properly or using them might endanger the lives of people around her.

"Do you think I'm ready to start training with my powers?" Wanda asked a bit hopeful.

Natasha tilted her head. "I think you're ready, you've come really far these past few weeks."

A giant smile broke out of Wanda's face. "Are you serious?"

"Yup," Natasha answered as she stood up and started packing her bag. "I really feel you've come a long way and ready for more. I'll talk to Steve tonight and we'll start coming up with training regiments to incorporate your powers."

Wanda felt very happy right now, for Natasha to do that meant she had a big level of faith in her and trusted her. She was going to do everything in her power to make sure she made the right decision. "Thanks, Natasha I appreciate your support."

"Don't give me all the credit, Tony talked to me yesterday about the conversation you two had in the car ride over and said he was really impressed with you," Natasha told her.

That surprised Wanda, Tony had talked about her? "Did he say what we were talking about?"

"Nothing too personal, but he mentioned how you told him you were going to therapy." She replied.

"He was going to find out regardless," Wanda answered back.

"True, but it shows growth that you were the one to say it, instead of taking the easy way out and letting him find out through us," Natasha said.

Wanda wasn't really sure if it was growth that let her admit it, her logic was that he was going to find out about it. However, considering the fact they weren't close why did she care enough that she was the one to tell her? Maybe it was because she barely tried a session it made it easier to lie? She shook her head; all this was doing was giving her another headache.

"So who knew all I needed was Starks seal of approval to let me start training with my powers." Wanda mused trying to move on from her thought process.

Natasha chuckled at her humor. "Well he does fund the Avengers, so his money has to mean something." She mused as well.

Before Wanda could respond she heard a beeping sound coming from her bag, she'd received a text message. She picked up her phone to find it was from Peter.

**Peter:** So uh, are we going to "attend" therapy tomorrow?

Ever since the first night she called him they'd been talking every day since. Sometimes it'll be half an hour calls after dinner, others she would be too busy and they would message on and off for the day. Wanda enjoyed their chats because they weren't always serious, they didn't involve her talking about her innermost problems, not about her powers or the Avengers. She felt like the same teenager she was before she volunteered to be experimented on.

Going back to the text Wanda immediately knew by "attend", he actually meant ditching it again. She wanted to type yes right away, but as she made a quick glance to the redhead behind her, who was busy going through her own bag, she started to feel guilty lying. Especially when Natasha just told her how much they believed in her.

She typed a negative response but she found her thumb hovering over the button to send the message.

She bit her lip as she thought about how her supposed improvement had nothing to do with therapy at all, all she'd done it made a new friend and in everyone's eyes, she'd been getting better. Maybe if she resumed just sitting in a circle in the middle of the gym being bored out of her mind she might regress and be brought back to square one.

There was also the fact she actually very much enjoyed talking to Peter, he had a way of making her escape all the drama and pain she dealt with most of the time, he was her escape.

The only time she got to spend in the city was when she went to therapy, every other moment of the day she was trapped here or in the surrounding area. She didn't want to give up seeing the kid.

Wanda quickly deleted her message and rewrote a new one.

**Wanda:** We're going to attend, listen, take notes and test one another on what we just learned and ask each other how it made us feel.

She could immediately see bubbles forming on her screen, which she figured out quickly meant he was typing something in response.

**Peter:** Haha, almost had me there Wanda.

**Peter:** Right?

Wanda smirked to herself as she decided to let Peter sweat it out a little.

**Peter:** Um, you aren't serious?

She didn't respond.

**Peter:** OMG you're serious!

Wanda bit her lip at the meltdown she was watching. She always enjoyed joking around whenever she could. She did the same thing to Pietro whenever he was annoying.

**Peter:** I feel betrayed; I now know how Obi-Wan felt when his student turned to the dark side. :'(

Deciding she'd tortured the boy enough, Wanda finally responded.

**Wanda**: You're so easy to mess with.

She laughed out loud as she watched bubbles appear and disappear, clearly, the boy was frantically typing something, then equally frantically deleting it. Oh, she missed this.

**Peter: **Vengeance will be glorious.

**Wanda: **When you're taller than me then I'll stop messing with you.

**Peter: ****grumble** **grumble**. MOVING ON, what did you want to do tomorrow?

Wanda pursed her lips together; it had been awhile she had the freedom to decide what to do in a city, the other times she'd been out with Peter it wasn't exactly planned.

**Wanda:** Let me get back to you okay?

**Peter: **Sure thing! I can't wait to hang out tomorrow!

Wanda smiled at the last message before putting her phone back in her bag. She looked back to see what Natasha was up to only to see the redhead giving her a small smirk.

"What?" She asked, the accent making it sound like _v_ instead of a _wh_.

Natasha playfully shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing just didn't realize you met someone in therapy."

Wanda frowned a little; she didn't like the insinuation of her words. "It's not like that."

"The smile on your face says otherwise," Natasha replied the smirk still on her face.

Wanda couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. It wouldn't appear so but Natasha could be very interested in people's love life. She heard a few times from Steve the countless women the Russian spy had tried to set him up with. She wasn't sure if Natasha was doing it because she actually wanted Steve to meet someone, or she was just bored and this amused her, probably the latter.

"He's just a friend Natasha, someone who is just as bored in therapy as I am." She admitted.

"If you say so," Natasha replied, but the tone in which she said sounded like _I don't believe you_.

Wanda could only sigh, as she knew it was no point in arguing. She did contemplate explaining who he was but she didn't want the other Avengers to know too much about him. It was nice separating her life with the Avengers and her life just as Wanda Maximoff. She knew it wouldn't last long but she would enjoy it as long as she could.

"So is he cute?" Wanda stood up and marched away, much to the laughter of her friend right behind her.

XXX

Wanda turned the lights to her room off and made her over to her bed. It had been a grueling training session and her body was still incredibly sore. Normally she was fine after a few hours but Natasha had really stepped it up today and now she was paying for it.

She laid down on the bed and pulled the covers over herself, now the worst part of her day that she was always dreading was coming, the nightmares. They didn't happen every night but she could generally tell when she might get them and tonight she had a strong feeling.

She groaned as she rolled to her side, she was getting fed up with the nightmares; they were always the same memories of her brother or her family.

It was then that she noticed the bottle of scotch sitting on her nightstand. She hadn't bothered moving it since the night Vision asked for her opinion on it. She hummed in thought; the alcohol would take the edge off.

Wanda sat up as she grabbed it and uncorked it.

"One small shot couldn't hurt." She reassured herself before tipping the open bottle towards her mouth.

Even though her throat burned it still left her a feeling of satisfaction. "Stark may not drink this anymore but he does have great taste." She commented as she looked at the label. She decided to take one more sip before closing it and putting it back on her nightstand.

She laid downed a satisfied sigh escaping her lips as she closed her eyes and let her tiredness take over.

**Authors Note: Uh-oh, alcohol is in no way the proper way to deal with your problems. I already know when it'll come to a head and the fallout it'll cause. **

**I think the next chapter will take a small time jump a few weeks maybe. They've already gotten an introduction down and the time jump will just be them getting to know each other but both of them still hiding big aspects of their lives. **

**Lastly, a few of the Avengers are starting to notice Wanda's new friend, I think it'll be funny when they do eventually meet Peter and he's nothing that they expected him to be, but that's getting ahead of myself. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

Finding Hope Within Grief

Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: The bank has weirdly rejected my proposed loan of $150 billion dollars, I now must come up with new ways to make the money, till then Marvel and Disney still own everything.**

"Four hundred and ninety-nine" Peter grunted out as he pushed himself up before lowering himself painfully.

"And five hundred!" Peter collapsed in exhaustion on the ground as he just finished his last push up.

He was taking heavy breaths, as this was the farthest he'd ever pushed himself. After his less than stellar first training session, he motivated himself to continue pushing himself. Despite how tired he felt and how much he felt like throwing up his lunch he felt great.

For starters, he was getting a better handle with his new cool powers. He had made strength training today and every day he worked out he had a higher number of push-ups he wanted to reach. The other day he wanted to see how long he could stick to walls, it lasted so long that he took out his phone to pass the time and it wasn't until a few hours later did he remember he was actually upside down, it was almost second nature to him.

After a few minutes of lying on the ground, he sat up and reached over to his bag and pulled out a water bottle.

The scientist in him wanted to continue with more tests, to see how much he was truly capable of. Could he one day be as strong as the Hulk? Just as finesse as The Black Widow? Or maybe even go head to head with Captain America himself? Peter was just so curious he needed to know what these powers could do.

Though there was another part of him was wondering why he was doing this? So what if he could do all the things he just imagined? Did that mean he was going to be a superhero or something? Peter shook his head, he was a kid, he had no business "saving the world". He deflated even further as he remembered the first time he actually used his powers, he got one of the most important people he cared about killed.

He sighed as he laid back down on the wooden floor. All the joy he received earlier from his training gone from his earlier memory of his uncle and that night. He threw his empty water bottle in frustration at the wall. He was being stupid by doing this, he should just not mess with these powers and continue on with his life, or else he might get someone else hurt.

A small ping from his phone got his attention. He reached into his backpack and pulled it out. He saw a notification pop up from a text from Wanda.

He frowned a little as he looked at the phone, a few weeks ago he'd be excited to see a message from her, but things have slowly started to change. He couldn't put his finger on it but she'd changed. It wasn't that noticeable at first since he hadn't known her for too long, but being around her more it's all he could think about.

It started a few weeks ago when they were looking for something to do and she had suggested going to this bar. Peter wasn't sure why she was suggesting that place but considering they didn't have anywhere else to go he had agreed. Now it seemed that's all the type of places they ever went to.

What was more strange was that she always had a drink in her hand, at first he thought it was juice, it was very colourful and she talked about how fruity it was when he asked. So one time when she went to the bathroom his curiosity got the better of him and he tried it, a very bad mistake. He nearly gagged at the taste and downed his entire glass of milk to drown it out. Then she moved onto beer, which wasn't strange since she was an adult after all, but then she would order more when she was done. It wasn't until the third week did he start to notice a slight change in her personality.

Did she seem giddier? No, that wasn't right. Peter found it was hard to explain, she would be cruder when it came to conversation, other times she seemed a bit more romantic with the staff? No that wasn't the right word; if he remembered his search online the term _flirty_ was more appropriate. Another thing that was getting on his nerves was that if she had a lot to drink her words would become slurred and it became more difficult to understand Wanda. Overall it just made him uncomfortable to be around.

It didn't help the smell as well as bothered him. Since he got his powers he noticed he had a better handle on all his senses and being around Wanda she just had this very strong scent of alcohol on her and often gave him a headache because of it.

He had thought about talking to her about it, maybe she was just unaware of how it came across? But Peter worried if he might overstep. They never really had that in-depth type of conversations, mainly they just got to know one another asking each other about their hobbies. Neither asked the other on why they were going to therapy in the first place and both were fine with that arrangement. If he did make this step then that would change his relationship with Wanda, what if she reacted badly and didn't want to see anymore?

Peter couldn't help but start worrying at the thought, he never really had an easy time making friends at school. He was extremely awkward when interacting with kids his age and that made him afraid to interact with them in fear of them making fun of him. It was part of the reason why he attached himself to Wanda early on, not only as an out to therapy but because she was the first person in a long time that wanted to be around him the first time they went out and ate pizza.

Even when he explained how much he loved Star Wars and had built lego sets based on it she did not make fun of him as some of the other kids would. Wanda would even show an interest and ask him questions about it. Not even just to humour him or be polite but she'd show genuine interest in his life.

Peter sighed sadly at the thought of losing that friendship and being even more alone. He decided he'd think about it later and just try to work through it. He opened up his phone to see what her message was.

**Wanda: **Found this interesting place we should definitely try out tomorrow. It has a game there I used to play a lot back home. I'll text send you the address in the morning.

Peter perked up a bit when he read the message. Wanda had mentioned a game, so it sounded like it won't be another bar. Maybe he won't have to do anything about it, maybe it was just a phase then?

Another ping alerted him of another message sent by Wanda.

**Wanda: **They also have very good drinks and I'm excited to try them!

And just like that Peter fell back down on the ground and groaned quietly. Just his luck, nothing would ever be that easy.

"Peter dinner is ready!" Aunt May called from the kitchen.

On cue Peter heard his stomach start to rumble, maybe if he told May he'd forgotten to eat lunch he could get away with eating more food than normal?

Deciding to not deal with his current problem with Wanda he got up and threw his phone onto the bed and left to go see May.

**XXX**

"Come on Capsicle, let's do it!"

"I said no Tony."

"Peggy won't even know, it'll be our little secret."

"It's not about her, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it."

"Live a little, I just want to have some fun with you."

Even from across the room Wanda could hear Steve sigh at Tony's attempts to plan his birthday party. Ever since Steve had casually mentioned having a small get together Tony had quickly shut that down and inserted himself into the planning of the event and making it as large and elaborate as possible. Part of the reason being Steve's birthday coincided with the 4th of July.

Steve let out an exasperated sigh. "Tony, I don't want the 2014 playboy playmates here on my birthday."

"Don't worry, Hugh won't even mind it, in fact, he owes me a favor." Tony continued, seemingly undeterred by Roger's opinion.

"Sam, please tell Tony how ridiculous it sounds." Steve pleaded to his friend.

Sam had been in the kitchen setting up dinner for everyone, he put the pots down as he looked at both men. "Sorry Steve, you know I have your back always, but saying no to the company of twelve fine women, I might have to side with Tony on this."

Tony walked over and wrapped an over around Sam's shoulders. "See that Cap, even your side-kick is on Team Ironman."

Sam gave a fake cry of outrage and shrugged off Tony's arm. "Side-kick!? I'm an Avenger!"

Deciding she'd had enough listening in Wanda decided to join in. "Really Sam? Or have you forgotten when your grandma visited last week and asked you to take a picture of her with the _real Avengers_."

Tony burst out laughing at her surprise comment, even Steve who didn't enjoy laughing at his friend's expense gave a small chuckle.

"Wh-But-I." Wanda herself couldn't help but smirk at Sam's sputtering, she didn't think she'd seen him look so embarrassed.

"I'm saving that for future entertainment," Tony said after a few minutes of laughing.

Sam gave him an angry look. "Don't you dar-"

"FRIDAY save the footage from the past 5 minutes," Tony commanded.

"Yes, boss," Friday announced over the intercom.

Sam just turned away and resumed his cooking, even from across the room Wanda could hear the man grumbling.

Wanda gave a small smile, she'd noticed she was starting to enjoy the company of her fellow Avengers more, even going as far to join in their banter from time to time. Natasha had been kind enough to help by telling her certain topics that got under the skin of some of them. In this instance, it was Sam's grandmother.

She was about to go back to her phone to see if Peter responded when Steve spoke up. "Wanda is there anyone you would want to invite?"

The question caught her off guard, she didn't exactly have a social life, especially in a foreign country she just moved too. Of course, there was Peter, but Steve didn't know about him.

"There isn't anyone." She answered trying to return back to her phone, she was a bit confused but figured Steve may have just been being polite.

Steve gave her a small frown, Wanda wondered if that was the wrong answer?

"What about Peter?" Steve asked back.

The mention of Peter's name almost made her drop her phone and look up in alarm. How did he know about him? Did the Avengers finally find out her secret, did they know she'd been skipping therapy to spend time with Peter? She was in deep trouble.

She looked back at Steve and tried to figure out a response to explain her actions that didn't immediately ruin any trust she'd been working so hard to build.

"So that's his name, Natasha mentioned you made a friend the other day," Sam mentioned while stirring one of the pots.

That made Wanda close her mouth. So that was how they knew, Wanda was initially surprised Natasha would share that but considering it wasn't exactly a deep dark secret she figured it might've come up in general conversation.

"I didn't know you made a friend, bring him over to the compound. I'm quite curious to see what kind of person isn't afraid of your "don't piss me off and I won't kill you look." Wanda glared at Tony's remark, she wasn't that intimidating.

"See, right there! That look you're giving me now." Tony pointed out much to her annoyance. She rolled her eyes at the billionaire

"In all seriousness, I'm sure everyone would love a chance to get to know a real Avenger," Tony remarked sitting on a nearby chair.

"I haven't told him or anyone what I am," Wanda replied as she fiddled with the phone in her hand.

Tony looked a bit perplexed, perhaps it was because when it came to the identity of Iron-Man he had no issue sharing it with the world. She, however, enjoyed her privacy.

"Tony, we haven't officially introduced Wanda as an Avenger yet, we felt it was best for her and the other new members to settle in first before making an announcement," Steve interjected.

Tony glanced between both of them for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "Fair enough, I guess we all can't be like me. Shame though, the world would be a much better place." He stood up from his seat and started to walk off.

"I find it hard to believe Pepper would believe that," Steve commented.

Wanda's eyes narrowed as she felt this sudden strong emotion radiating off Tony, it felt like sadness. She looked over at Tony to get a better read but was surprised to see he was giving no visible reaction to Steve's comment.

She frowned as this wasn't the first time it happened. Thinking about it, it seemed that Tony would feel sadness the strongest when Peppers's name was mentioned. From what Wanda could piece together Pepper was the name of his girlfriend, the only conclusion she could reach was either she was dead, or they had broken up.

Wanda knew very well the sadness one held for a lost family member. She felt it many times in herself and on Pietro on the anniversary of their parent's death.

So that left the only option and that was a breakup. It would explain a lot, the fact that she kept hearing what a big person she was in the man's life was suddenly gone. The fact that instead of being with her he suddenly moved into the Compound without much notice.

Thinking more about it Tony seemed to focus a lot of his time a lot on his work, when he would finish with one project he would quickly move onto the other, right now his current project seemed to be planning Steve's birthday.

It was not her business to talk to Tony about Pepper, she didn't like people poking their nose into hers so she wouldn't bring it up. It just annoyed Wanda very much how much she could feel it, it was like a strong scent, you can get used to it after a few minutes but when you're reintroduced to it, it seems just as strong.

To Tony's credit his face didn't give much away in terms of the inner pain he must've been feeling.

Tony shrugged at Steve's comment. "There are times she wishes I was a little less...me. But come on, who can't love this face." Tony jokingly batted his eyelashes.

Steve shook his head jokingly at the older man's comment. He patted Tony on the shoulder and walked over towards Sam.

"Don't think this is over." Tony hollered behind the man's back. He gave a small chuckle and looked back at her. "So, tell me about Peter."

"This conversation is over," Wanda commented and walked away. Right now she had the Avengers one side and Peter on the other and she was going to keep it that way as long as possible.

**XXX**

Peter bit into his slice of pizza, as much as he wanted to enjoy his favorite meal he just felt awful.

He supposed part of it had to do with the fact that May had burned the original meal and now the apartment smelled of burnt fish. Normally just opening a window helped air the apartment but thanks to his enhanced senses it was all he could smell and it had been over an hour!

But his actual distress was his current problem with Wanda. He didn't know what to do, he wanted to ask her about what was going on, but at the same time, he didn't want to overstep and get her upset at him. Who knew having friends was so hard?

His inner turmoil was interrupted as he felt something greasy land on his cheek. His eyes widened and reached up and grabbed whatever hit him. He looked down and saw it was cheese?

Peter heard May giggling as he looked up and saw a mischievous smile on her face. She wasted perfectly good cheese!

"May," Peter whined and threw the cheese in his mouth. "It's a sin to waste perfectly good cheese from Rickys!" He said through a mouthful of cheese.

May smiled back at him and put down the rest of her slice. "I've been calling you for the past few minutes sweetheart, but either something is on your mind or that slice in your hand is the most interesting thing you've ever seen." She motioned to the half-eaten slice in his hand.

Peter felt his cheesed grease cheeks heat up in embarrassment, he put the slice down on his plate. "Sorry May," he mumbled.

May reached over and placed her hand on his forehead. "You aren't burning up so it's not a fever, what's wrong?"

Peter frowned as he wondered if he should say anything to May, she was already stressed enough going back to work after her leave of absence, and she was still reeling with her husband's death. Peter didn't want to put more problems on her plate than he needed too, she was already worried enough about him.

One look at her face and Peter knew he shouldn't keep hiding this from her, he felt guilty enough hiding his powers and skipping therapy, he shouldn't have to hide every part of his life.

"It's not me, it's someone from therapy," Peter admitted as he looked at May. To her credit, she didn't immediately push for more and merely nodded her head. "I think it would be safe to say I consider them a friend, but we've only talked during food breaks." Peter sighed as he was finding trouble to find the right words, but May was giving him space and time to continue at his own pace.

"She's really cool and she doesn't think I'm a dork like everyone else." Peter started to explain.

"Awh Peter you aren't a dork, you're my baby." May jokingly gushed as she reached over and pinched his cheek.

Peter swatted her hand away at the funny gesture, a small smile on his face. Leave it to May to embarrass him.

"Point is, she likes being around me and I like being around her." Peter sighed as he was getting to the part that was bothering him the most. "But, I've noticed lately when she comes to therapy that she's different."

"Different how?" May asked curiously.

Peter creased his forehead as he tried to carefully find the right words to explain, but not so much that May would feel that he should be told to not see her again.

"Her mannerisms are completely different from when we first started talking, she talks to people differently, the things she talks about are different and it seems as if she's trying to push something down that is bothering her by overcompensating on her personality," Peter explained but purposely not going to in-depth detail.

May frowned at his explanation and he could see her eyes narrow in concentration. Considering that his aunt was a nurse, she was probably remembering back to previous patients trying to see if she could remember anything remotely similar.

"It's not uncommon for people to do what you just explained. I've treated alcoholics who drink because of the stress at home or at work. Even kids a little older than you who resorted to drug use because they couldn't handle all the stress school and their parents put on them." May explained to him.

Peter frowned as he tried to remember anything Wanda told him about her life at home or at work. As far as he was aware she didn't work and never said a bad word about her home, but there had to be a reason why she was drinking suddenly?

"Not all cases are about drugs and alcohol," May said, interrupting his thoughts. "From what you've told me she probably is struggling with something and instead of opening up is trying very hard to push it down by pretending she's happy."

May reached over and placed her hand on his shoulder. "It's sweet you're looking out for someone." She paused as she glanced away for a moment. "Ben would be so proud you're looking out for someone."

Peter had to blink his eyes repeatedly to stop the tears coming from the mention of his uncle. "What should I do May?"

She gave him a small smile "She's in therapy for a reason Peter, she understands she has parts of her life she needs help in and is seeking that right now. Everyone goes through ups and downs through this, but if she sticks with this she'll get better. Leave it to her therapist sweetie."

"But there has to be something I can do right?" Peter desperately asked.

"Of course, if she's really important to you then tell her you're there for her if she wants to talk," May responded kindly.

Peter didn't like that, there had to be more he could do. "That's it?"

May sighed sadly at him. "Peter, you can't force someone to open up, all that'll do is push them further away."

Peter had hoped talking to May would make him feel better, but her words had done the opposite. If Wanda truly needed therapy to handle whatever problems she had in her life, then Peter making her skip sessions with her was hurting rather than helping. He doubted he'd be able to come up with an excuse to suddenly go back to therapy. This was his fault he needed to fix this!

"Thanks, May," Peter said quietly, staring at his plate.

He could feel May staring at him but he didn't bother looking up. He soon heard her get up and lean over and kiss him on the top of his head. "I promise things will get better Peter." For some reason, he felt her words had more meaning than just his problems with Wanda.

**XXX**

Wanda checked herself in the mirror one last time, Starks driver was going to drive her to the city in a few minutes for her scheduled "therapy" session. She would need to leave soon or else she would have to hear the entire trip of him complaining about "teenagers and their no respect for being on time" or "why does Tony put me on babysitting duty." Not all of it was said verbally, sometimes when bored her mind would wander and she would be able to sense his most vocal thoughts.

She had decided to go with a nice red blouse, one of a few nice clothing she bought when she first moved into the compound and a pair of black jeans that hugged her legs. It may have been a little over the top for a small afternoon trip to the city but she didn't often get the opportunity to wear something other than training gear and she wanted to make the most of it. Satisfied with her appearance she grabbed her purse and walked out of her room towards the parking garage.

She couldn't help but smile, last night she got a full eight hours of sleep with no nightmares. Today there would be no training and most importantly she would get to see Peter.

Arriving at the end of the hallway she pressed a button requesting an elevator, once the doors opened she saw that there were two women inside. With their long lab coats Wanda would peg them as either doctors or scientists working in one of the many labs in the compound.

Keeping to herself she walked inside and pressed the button to her destination. She kept her eyes straight ahead and looked up at the number indicating what floor the elevator was currently passing through.

"_Ugh can't believe I'm sharing an elevator ride with her._"

"_Looks like someone decided to dress like a slut today._"

Wanda frowned as she heard what was probably one of the two women's inner thoughts. She sighed inwardly and closed her eyes trying to keep the voices out.

"_The witch probably is mind-controlling the Avengers into letting her stay here, why else would they let a monster like her stay here._"

"_Maybe she's just desperate for attention and wants everyone to look at her._"

Wanda could feel her fist clench, most of the employees here were aware of her involvement in Sokovia and Ultron. Not to mention some of them had seen her training with the rest of the Avengers, they were scared of her powers since they had no idea where it came from. One thing she learned is that people are afraid of what they don't know.

Every so often if she passed by someone she could feel how strong their fear of her was, or in this case anger.

She kept telling herself it won't be long until she can get out, but that didn't mean the voices would quiet down either.

"_Wasn't her brother with her in Sokovia? Maybe he finally had enough sense to leave her behind._"

Wanda turned her head toward the woman who's thoughts she just heard, her eyes narrowed in extreme anger. The woman must've realized her mistake as her face turned pale, she tried to take a step away but was confined in a small elevator, there was nowhere to hide.

The ding of the elevator signaled the two women had reached their floor. Not even waiting for the door to open all the way they rushed through shoving one another through the half-opened door. She watched with a narrow gaze as both of them got out and ran down the hallway.

The door soon closed and she was met with her reflection on the door. She realized now it wasn't just her angry look that frightened the two women, it was the fact that her eyes were glowing red. She was caught off guard as she didn't know she was capable of that with her powers, did her eyes always glow like that using them?

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, she could feel another headache starting to form, this was not good. After another moment she opened them and saw her own eyes staring back at her. She really needed a drink now after all this crap.

The elevator soon reached the garage and she quickly stepped out. She saw the driver standing by the car and once he noticed her started to tap his watch, indicating she was late.

"Come on, I have other things to do than just drive you around." He snapped as he climbed into the driver's seat.

Wanda didn't bother responding and just climbed into the backseat. The car pulled away from the compound and was soon on the road toward the city. Even though the situation with the two bitches was over she still felt aggravated. Her right leg bouncing off the car floor.

She had less than an hour before they would arrive and right now she felt like expending a lot of energy. It was the elevator situation all over again.

It was then she spotted the mini-fridge close by. Of course, this was Stark's car and he would have beverages. She gave a quick glance at the driver to see he was watching the road, but he could clearly see her if he looked in the rearview.

"How much longer until we're there?" She called out, purposely trying to annoy him. Her planned work as the driver hit a button and a black divider rose up between them until she couldn't see him anymore.

Wanda smirked at his stupidity, she quietly crouched down in front of the minibar and opened it, silently praying that he still had some alcohol inside. She smiled in triumph as she saw a few bottles of whiskey inside. She gave one last look at the divider and grabbed the first bottle. She unscrewed the cap and poured a little bit down her throat. She welcomed the familiar burn as the liquid went down.

"Stark really does buy the best stuff." Wanda sighed happily before taking another swig of the bottle. She screwed the cap back on and started to move the bottles inside to the side and quickly put the half-empty bottle to the very back to hide it. Satisfied she put all the bottles in front of it and closed the fridge and sat back down.

She took a deep breath and laid back in her seat. She could feel herself calming down and her leg was no longer shaking. Today was going to be a good day.

**Author's Note: Sorry it took a bit longer but I'd actually finished the chapter after this one first, but I just felt the jump from that to the last chapter I published was too large. So I spent more time writing this one to make the transition smoother.**

**The reason being is the next chapter will be a big one in terms of the friendship between Peter and Wanda and will advance the story in a big way.**


	6. Chapter 6

Finding Hope Through Grief

Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: Good news, I found an Arabian Prince who's locked out of his great fortune! All I have to do is send him most of my money and he'll be able to access his fortune and give me the $150 Billion to buy Marvel and Disney. Unfortunately, that'll take time and right now they both still own it. **

Wanda's eyes narrowed as she eyed her target. She took a deep breath and focused, this is what she'd been working towards all this time. If she blew it now then it was all for nothing. She took another deep breath and fired.

She watched as the white ball shot straight ahead at its target, it was a perfect shot and it looked like it was about to hit the eight ball right where she wanted it. However Wanda was about to learn a painful lesson about the game of Pool, the tiniest thing can screw you over. Right as it was about to hit the eight ball it curved a little to the left and hit it at an off-angle, sending the black ball in the complete opposite direction she wanted. She watched in horror as the eight ball bounced off the walls and sunk into the wrong pocket.

"Looks like I win again." She heard Peter behind her say.

Wanda couldn't stop the groan from escaping her lips. "I don't want to play anymore."

She could hear Peter laughing as he walked around the table, collecting the balls in the pockets. "If I remember correctly, it was your idea to play pool in the first place."

That's what made this even more embarrassing, this was her idea. She'd played pool all the time with her friends whenever she wasn't doing anything. They'd found it abandoned in the trash and decided to try it out. Having no other forms of entertainment she'd gotten quite good playing it a lot. Or she thought she was good at the game before she introduced Peter to it and watched as he beat her in every match.

"You told me you've never played before, I thought it would be fun to show you," Wanda admitted as she helped Peter set up another game. "Clearly you've played before." She said eyeing him with an accusatory glance.

She saw Peter raise his hands "Honest! I've never played before."

Wanda merely raised her brow, there was beginners' luck and there was Peter freaking Parker beating her every single game.

"It's actually quite simple," Peter said as he walked beside her and adjusted his stick onto the table. "A lot of it is thinking before you shoot." Wanda watched as Peter's eyes narrowed in concentration, he must've been really thinking as the tip of his tongue was poking out of the side of his mouth. "I look at it as a physic question, at what angel do I have to hit the striped ball in order for it to shoot towards the pocket in the corner." Peter motioned towards his intended target. "I calculate the correct the angel, determine the correct speed needed, and then shoot." On cue Peter pulled back and shoot his stick at the white ball, Wanda watched as it zoomed across the table at its target, at the rate it was flying it would hit it on the side. Her eyes widened as the ball hit its target and sent it flying diagonally towards and sunk into the pocket Peter had earlier pointed out.

She gave Peter a shocked look that he actually did what he explained he'd do. The only time she'd seen that happen was when one of the more experienced players played. Peter was a novice!?

"I can't believe you turned my favorite game into a nerdy science quiz," Wanda muttered in disbelief.

Peter had the decency to be embarrassed when she pointed out what he was doing. "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

Wanda couldn't help but laugh, it almost sounded ridiculous, but considering who she was talking with, it sounded just like something Peter would do.

She shook her head playfully and grabbed her drink sitting on a nearby table. Regardless, it was still all in good fun, she was still enjoying herself. Especially after her early morning confrontation.

She sighed in delight as the cool drink washed down her throat. It was an odd name, a _Pornstar_ the waiter told her. Not the most alcoholic drink she had but enough of these were doing its job and helping her relax.

She noticed as she put the glass down it was already empty. She saw the waiter come by and waved him down.

"Yes?" He asked her, a smile on his face.

"Aaron." She purred as she spoke his name. "Would you mind getting me another please?" She batted her eyelashes for extra emphasis.

Her plan worked as she saw Aaron the waiter become flustered. "Ye-yes! Right away!" He quickly turned around and ran to the bar, nearly tripping over a nearby table.

She quietly laughed to herself at his actions, she forgot how fun it was making people flustered.

"I'm starting to think you enjoy doing that." She heard Peter speak behind her.

Wanda turned around and saw Peter giving her a strange look, she wasn't sure what it meant but mentally shrugged. Being a bit buzzed made her worry less and just _go with the flow_ as she heard from the American shows.

"Have no choice, the legal age to drink here is 21. So if I make them a little flustered then they forget to ask about my age." Wanda found it extremely annoying that everyone here had a stick up his or her butts when it came to drinking. What harm could a few drinks have? "Besides its just harmless fun Peter."

"Its fun giving the guy hope you might like him when in fact you're just taking advantage of him to give you drinks?" Peter answered back, she could see him squeeze the pool stick a big tightly.

"Alright, when you say it like that I sound like a total bitch," Wanda replied, she saw Peter wince at her use of profanity. She mentally scolded herself; she wasn't with her usual friends but someone very young, she should be making an effort to control her language. She sighed as she blamed the drinks, it always did make her lose all filters.

"Sorry Peter." She quickly said easing the boy. "I….like to have fun, it truly is harmless."

She saw Peter have a conflicted look on his face. She was about to say something before she heard something snap. Wanda's eyes nearly bulged out as she saw the pool stick in Peter's hands break. They both watched as the pieces of the stick landed on the floor by their feet.

In all the times she'd played she'd never actually seen the stick break and that was even after she used it as a weapon and whacked it over the head of someone who thought he could take advantage of her.

"Oh no, what have I done!?" Wanda's thoughts were interrupted as she heard Peter panic, he crouched on the ground and started picking up the pieces.

She walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Its fine Peter."

"No, it's not, I broke this. I don't have the money to pay for this, I don't even know how much it is!" Peters's voice started to get higher and she could feel his breath getting heavier.

Wanda mentally sighed, if Peter were one her old friends she'd merely suggest him take a drink to calm him down, but he was a minor and she didn't think this would work with him.

She looked behind her to see that no one had noticed their commotion, but it wouldn't be long. She could probably repay for the stick with her credit card but it would cause a lot of problems and take too much time. She looked over and saw a hallway leading to the bathrooms close by.

She walked over and picked up Peters and her bags and walked back over. "Come on." She said as she handed him his bag.

Peter looked up and saw his eyes a bit watered as if he might start crying. Wanda was really surprised; it was an accident, why was he crying over this?

"Were leaving?" He asked, confusion evident in her voice.

Wanda nodded and tried to make him stand, which in her buzzed induced mind was a bit more difficult. "Quit crying and stand up!" She whispered harshly. Peter eventually got the idea and stood up a clear frown on his face.

Wanda nudged Peter towards the washroom, looking behind her constantly making sure no one was watching them leave.

They walked through the short hallway until they were standing in front of the door leading to the men's washroom. She was the first to walk in and pulled him in, luckily it was empty.

She could see Peter was uncomfortable out of the corner of her eye but she needed to focus. Her eyes lit up in joy as she saw a window on the other side and was big enough to fit through. She walked over and unlocked the latch before tugging on it and smiled in satisfaction as it slid open just enough.

"Wanda what are you doing? We haven't paid and I broke their property." Peter asked quietly behind her.

"What does it look like? Were leaving before we get in trouble." She muttered as she tried to lift herself up but realized she didn't have the upper body strength to do so. "Can you lift me up?"

When she didn't hear a response she turned around and saw Peter glaring at her, her eyes widened in surprise, she didn't think she did anything to offend him and also because she'd actually never seen him angry.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"You want me to dine and dash!" Wanda tilted her head in confusion at what that meant.

Seeing her confusion Peter clarified the American saying. "You want us to just leave without paying and after I destroyed their property." He explained in a calmer voice.

Wanda sighed heavily at him, they didn't have time to talk about this. "Peter lets just go, this place makes more than enough money."

"It's stealing!" Peter fired back.

Wanda wanted to bang her head on the bathroom wall; she hated how difficult he was being. A part of her was tempted to just use her powers and fling him through the window to end this but she knew she couldn't.

"Peter, listen." She said as walked closer to him and placed her hands on his shoulders, looking him straight in the eye. "Neither of us don't have much money, we can't afford to pay for the pool stick. They'll call the police on us and we'll get arrested."

She could see Peter gulped nervously at the mention of cops, good; that'll make it easier to scare him into leaving.

"I, I'll take the blame." He replied nervously.

Wanda gave him a small smile, she could tell he was being honest and she could appreciate that but she didn't want him getting in trouble. "That's sweet, but I'm technically an immigrant, if I get arrested then they'll kick me out of the country." It was a bald-faced lie, if she did get arrested then Starks lawyers would handle any issues that might come up, but Peter didn't know that.

She could see the conflicted look in his eyes at what to do, she watched as he looked back at the door behind them. Wanda was mentally hoping that he wouldn't walk through that door and instead leave through the window. Eventually, Peter looked back at her before nodding.

"Thanks, Peter." She said as she gave him a quick hug before walking back over to the window.

She thought it might be a bit of a struggle for Peter to help lift her up but she was surprised at how effortless it was. Once she had one leg through to the outside she was about to offer her hand to help him but was surprised as he pulled himself up. Wanda was confused about how he had that much upper body strength, in all intents purposes he was a nerd and didn't look like the type to work out or play sports.

Wanda shrugged her shoulders as it just made it easier and hopped down on the other side, the fall must've been higher than she thought because when she landed she fell back and landed on her butt. She giggled at how silly it must be, an Avenger like her unable to land properly on her feet, oh how she missed being buzzed, it made everything funny.

She looked up and saw Peter land gracefully on the ground if she was a bit more sober she might've questioned how Peter was this acrobatic but she was just happy they were leaving.

She soon managed to stand upright and nudged Peter to walk out of the alley they were in and quickly blended in with the crowd on the streets.

For the first few minutes, she looked behind her occasionally to make sure no one was following them and after a few minutes, she finally relaxed. Wanda looked at Peter to see how he was feeling but could see he looked uncomfortable. She thought about saying something but decided not too, he would come around soon once they were a fair bit away.

However, as they kept walking he still didn't say anything, she tried a few times to make him talk but he either gave her one-word answers or just shrugged. It was such a contrast to his usual personality, most of the time he was a chatterbox, discussing the new book he was reading, something interesting he read in the science field or talking about Star Wars.

They soon made it back to the school, checking the time Wanda saw she still had ten minutes before she was going to be picked up. She rummaged through her bag pulling out a few items in her purse to find what she was looking for. She pulled out a bottle of water and a pack of gum, to help sober her up and hide her breath.

As she was doing this she could see Peter staring at her from the corner of her eye, eventually growing fed up she snapped. "What?"

Peter flinched at her tone and looked down, it was easy to forget he was only thirteen as he looked like a small child that got caught with his hand in a cookie jar. Wanda sighed as she tried to calm herself down.

"Sorry." She muttered before finishing her bottle of water. "Is everything okay? You've been quiet since we left."

Peter bit his lip, as it seemed he wanted to say something. He soon took a deep breath before speaking. "I don't know, its just…you seem different."

Wanda tilted her head in confusion, she didn't feel different. Though she was in a better mood lately because she wasn't having many nightmares.

"I've been feeling better lately if that's what you mean." She replied before taking a few gulps from the bottle of water.

She saw Peter shake his head at her. "No, not that." He started to pace back and forth in front of her, he must've been struggling to really come up with the right words as his hands were clenching and unclenching. He finally stopped in front of her. "I didn't notice it at first, but for the past while you've been acting differently."

Wanda narrowed her eyes at him; if he was talking about being different he never acted like this before. "How so?"

Wanda noticed him glance at the empty bottle in her hand. "You've been drinking more."

She almost wanted to laugh out loud; ah that's why he was acting funny. Peter probably wasn't use to being around someone who drank as much as she did. Most likely only seeing adults drinking one glass of wine at a time. She would probably have to tone how many drinks she had, but Pornstars didn't have that much alcohol in it, but maybe she should've thought how it might look having five glasses in front of him.

She patted him on the shoulder. "Peter it's fine, they just taste fruity, nothing wrong with it."

"But it's not fine!" He snapped again.

Wanda flinched at his tone, hastily removing her hand from his shoulder. "Before you started drinking you never stole anything, you weren't taking advantage of people and the biggest thing is you lied to me!"

Wanda was shocked at where this was all coming from. "I didn't lie to you." She replied.

That was clearly the wrong answer as Peters's eyes narrowed as he pointed to something on the ground. She looked down and her mouth hung open as she realized she'd just been caught in a lie and now knew how this all started.

Staring back at her was her wallet; she'd pulled it along with a few other items to help find what she saw looking for. It was very clear to both of them, as there was a fair bit of money in it as she saw a couple of twenty-dollar bills poking out.

"You told me we didn't have the money to pay back the place for breaking the stick but you did! Instead of paying it back, you went out of your way to lie to me and force us to sneak out when we could've avoided this problem altogether." He continued after a few moments.

So many thoughts were running through Wanda's mind for an explanation. She doubted Peter would believe her if she said she just forget. She rubbed her forehead in frustration at how stupid she was. A part of her was tempted to try using her powers to erase his memories but she knew she was better than that.

"Fine, I'm sorry Peter. I just didn't want to deal with something we could avoid easily." She apologized hoping to just put this behind them.

Unfortunately, Peter looked as if he had more to say. "This isn't the only thing, for the past while every time we go somewhere you're always having a drink, and every time you do drink you act funny."

"Funny?" Wanda repeated, unsure how to respond.

"Yes funny! Like you giggle all the time, you're making simple mistakes, you flirt with every waiter we have, even last week I had to help you walk over here because you nearly tripped and fell onto the busy road." He pointed out.

Wanda was starting to get frustrated, Peter was making her out to sound like some teenager who had a drinking problem. She didn't have a problem.

"So what? I have a few drinks and it loosens me up." She argued back.

Peter looked at her as if he didn't believe her. "Why did you start drinking?" He asked quietly.

Oh, they were not going to get into why she started drinking, not if Wanda had anything to say about it. "It's none of your business Parker." She answered coldly using his last name.

"It is when it's affecting my friend." He answered back. "You weren't drinking when we first hung out, now you can't go an hour without having something, why?"

Wanda wanted to scream, he wasn't letting this go. "Who cares if I'm drinking, I'm still the same Wanda you've always known."

"The Wanda I know wouldn't lie to me, or forced me to steal." He fired back. A small apart of Wanda had to admit she was impressed with the kid's backbone, she thought he would break under a little bit of pressure, where was he getting this confidence from?

"Well, then I guess you don't know me at all, because I use to do this all the time back home, and none of my friends gave a fuck about it!" She screamed. Wanda knew the alcohol was making her act like this, but she was too upset to bother caring.

She saw Peter flinch, probably because she was starting to swear. "Real friends don't encourage bad behaviour," Peter yelled back, a clear frustration on his face.

Wanda had to hold back a laugh. "Oh really? I remember you wanting us to ditch this stupid therapy the week after we met. Wasn't that encouraging bad behavior?" She mocked using his own words.

It had the desired effect as Peter shrunk down a bit, clearly embarrassed at his hypocrisy being pointed out. "Ye- yeah, you're right. If I knew what you were like then I wouldn't have suggested that."

Wanda's eyes narrowed and she leaned closer to his face a scowl on her lips. "What are you saying, Peter?"

Peter gulped before answering her. "That you should probably be in therapy for your drinking problem."

Of all people she thought Peter would be the last one to tell her she needed therapy. When she first met him she thought she finally met someone who didn't care where she was from, or what kind of powers she had. All that mattered was who she was. Now here was Peter Parker thinking he knew what was best for her like every single fucking person in her life, she had enough people in her life like that, she didn't need another.

"I don't need this," Wanda muttered.

She turned around intending to leave, but only made it a few steps before Peter ran in front of her, blocking her path.

"Peter." She growled, any longer and she was going to snap.

Peter shook his head. "No, this isn't over. Wanda I'm just trying to help." He pleaded.

"Then. Drop. It." She growled out, wanting this to be over with.

"I can't just drop this when you're clearly struggling." Peter took a step towards her.

Wanda clenched her fists in anger, who was this stupid brat thinking he could tell her what to do.

Peter took another step towards her.

Since Pietro died everyone thought she was some broken thing that they felt they could fix.

Peter took another step.

Those that didn't think she was broken thought she was some kind of monster. Outside of the Avengers, anytime she walked by the other residents working in the Compound she could hear them muttering under their breaths how much of a freak she is.

Peter took another step.

Wanda closed her eyes shut as every insult she heard them say behind her back, every negative thought about her she sensed. She was sick of this! Sick of being treated as fragile, sick of being treated as a freak of nature!

Wanda's eyes opened and before Peter could say or do anything she watched as he flew through the air, surrounded by red energy, and landed on the cement road a couple of feet away.

It took a couple of moments before Wanda's eyes widened and realized at what she just did. She just hurt Peter using her powers, she didn't mean to do it, it just happened. She lost control. She saw him groan in pain as he struggled to get up. She couldn't believe she just did that, sure she was angry but she would never do that.

"Pe-Peter, I'm sorry." Wanda walked carefully over to him, trying to help him up.

He looked up at her and saw him recoil as she approached him. She could see it clearly in his eyes, it was the same look she saw from people at the Compound, it was fear.

"I-I-I didn't mean to do it." Wanda pleaded moving closer, but Peter quickly crawled back further away.

Before she could say anything more Peter got up and quickly ran down the road.

"Wait!" Wanda tried to catch him but he was long gone turning the corner and out of sight.

She was rooted in place, staring at where she last saw Peter, hoping that he would come back and give her another chance. She didn't know how long she'd been staring until she could taste salt. She brought her hand up and realized she was crying.

She yelled out in frustration that she had possibly ruined one of the best things to happen to her. Her hands clenched and she could feel her power radiating through her, as it often does when she's feeling a really powerful emotion. Trying to not unleash more of her powers she kicked a nearby trash can, denting it and knocking it over.

As time passed Wanda started to feel more and more guilty. All Peter was trying to do was help her, as any good friend would do. How did she repay him? By taking out her anger at everyone towards him. She bit her lip trying to hold back from screaming, she had just screwed up something really good for her.

After a few minutes, her hands started to unclench and she started taking big breaths, trying to calm down. She reached down into her pocket and pulled out her phone, she scrolled through it onto she found Peter's contact information. Her thumb hovered over the call button, she wanted to desperately call him an apology, but she had no idea how she could explain her powers. Wand sighed in frustration; this day was just getting worse and worse.

Before she could press the call button her phone started ringing. Wanda's face lit up in the thought that Peter was calling her but quickly deflated as she saw it was Stark's personal driver.

"Hello?" She answered.

"I've been trying to get your attention for the last minute, I'm right behind you. Come on!" The man replied a bit impatiently.

Wanda looked behind her and saw the familiar car further down the road, how long had she been standing here?

She quickly shut the call off, collected her things, and walked over, and climbed inside the car. Wanda had never been more thankful than ever that Starks driver wasn't much for talking and usually kept to himself. She didn't feel like talking right now.

She heard the man mutter under his breath about teenagers and not listening and it took everything in her to not lash out. She was still very upset and could very easily blast him out of the car, but she was better than that and knew she needed to calm down by the time she got back to the Compound.

XXX

As soon as the car parked in the garage she quickly got out of the car. She had been driving herself crazy for the last hour going over her conversation with Peter. She was still very raw from it and felt she needed to hit something to work through her anger.

She made it to her room and changed into her work out attire, she was cutting through the rec room towards the gym before the most annoying man in the world stopped her.

"Hey Wanda, what's the rush? Got a yoga class to attend?" Tony commented walking over to her.

"Training." She said simply and started to walk away.

"Whoa, hold up there Hermione." Normally the nickname didn't bother her too much, but today it was the last thing she wanted to hear.

"What?" She growled, not bothering to hide her frustration.

"You seem a little upset, just wanted to make sure you're okay." He replied, his joking manner turning into a more concerning one.

"I'm fine." She said simply and walked around him leaving the rec room.

XXX

Contrary to past events, Steve Rogers wasn't a suicidal man. Whether it was entering the Super Solider program and being injected with a serum that he had no idea how his body would react to it, or purposely sinking a Nazi aircraft into the Atlantic Ocean with himself inside. Even though most of the people he grew up with were long dead, he valued his life very much. It was for that reason he stayed inside the observation deck as he watched Wanda down below unleashing her powers inside the training room.

Steve had to hold his ground as the room he was in shook from the power behind Wanda's attack. He'd been reviewing past training sessions videos in order to improve the team's coordination when he saw Wanda walk inside. He was about to say hello over the intercom when she let out a primal roar and blasted the training dummy in front of her. Steve was surprised; he'd never seen that level of anger from her before. He decided the best course of action was to let it unfold and let her calm down on her own. As he saw a crack appear in the glass window, he wondered if the Compound would be standing at the end of it.

He heard the door open and close behind him, he turned around and saw Tony walk over to him. He half expected a sarcastic comment to be made about Wanda but was surprised when the older man didn't say anything. He looked over and saw Tony staring down below at Wanda.

"How long has she been like this?" Tony asked, not taking his eyes off the youngest Avenger.

"Almost an hour," Steve commented looking back down. He sighed sadly as the rate of Wanda's _training_ wasn't slowing down. He knew he had to do something, it was clear she was in some kind of pain and taking her anger out the only way she knew how.

He made a step towards the exit when he felt Tony placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Tony?" He asked, confused, the man still hadn't taken his eyes off Wanda.

"She won't talk to you." He commented, he finally took his eyes off of the scene below and looked him in the eye. It was one of the rare times Steve could see Tony was completely serious, no wisecracks or sarcastic comments.

"I can't let her continue this, she's in pain Tony," Steve replied back, it was hard to watch someone he cared about in so much pain.

"You go down there and she will shut you out," Tony replied back a bit more forcefully.

"You don't know that-"

"Yes I do!" Tony yelled, starling Steve. The man hardly raised his voice like that, unless he was drunk of course.

Tony took a deep breath and took a step back. "Listen, I know where she's been. I was right in her shoes not too long ago. Only instead of freaky magical energy attacks, it was bottles being thrown at my bedroom wall."

Steve knew all too well the personal struggles Tony had been going through, with the billionaire's life shown so much in the public eye it was easy to see he wasn't okay.

"But you had Pepper with you to help you every step of the way." Steve could see Tony's eye narrow just a bit at the mention of his partner but it disappeared just as quickly.

Steve had wondered why Tony had suddenly moved into the Compound when he was previously living with Pepper, but Tony would always side track into a different conversation. He knew it was none of his business what happened in his personal relationships but it was something that was on everyone's mind since he moved in. However that conversation was for another day, right now Wanda was his priority.

"I'm not saying abandon her, just you have to let her come to you first," Tony explained.

As much as Tony's personality could sometimes grate on his nerves, it was the moment's sincerity he was currently watching that made him appreciate having him at his side. Tony rarely talked about his therapy sessions, whenever he did it was behind some joke or crude remark.

He stepped away from the door and made his way toward the front panel.

"You mentioned she was doing really well since she started therapy?" Tony asked.

Steve nodded. "I was a little caught off guard at how much better she seemed, and as the weeks went by she seemed a lot happier."

Tony hummed along taking a sip of his water. "She must've, she actually put up with me in a car for an hour."

Steve couldn't help but smile at his friend's humour. "That's true." He glanced down below at the woman in question. "And now she's like this."

Tony looked down as well at Wanda. "It wasn't going to be easy, getting over the grief of losing the single most important person in your life." Tony walked over to Steve and patted him on the shoulder. "She's going to have bad days like this, sometimes it'll look like she's getting worse. Just give her time Capsicle."He soon walked past him heading out.

Right before he left he paused at the door and looked back at him. "Just be thankful she's taking out her emotions like this. Trust me, you don't want her looking at alcohol as the answer."

Tony soon left leaving Steve alone. As much as he didn't want to fuel the man's already large ego he had to admit Tony had a point. The first few days after SHIELD found him he was a mess, missing his old life and his old friends. Even now there are days where it's all he thinks about. He knew it would probably be best for Wanda to come to him or any other member of the team to talk about what was bothering her on her terms.

He gave one more glance at the younger woman and began walking out, deciding to take a run around the Compound boundaries.

**Authors Note: Oh if only Tony and Steve truly knew, don't worry they'll find out soon. However, with Peter and Wanda upset with one another how will both continue to cope with their ongoing grief over the death of their family, not well I'll tell you.**


	7. Chapter 7

Finding Hope Within Grief Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Still haven't heard back from the Arabian prince….I'm sure everything's fine, transferring billions of dollars takes time...right? Anyway, till then Disney and Marvel still own the characters. **

**Wanda: I'm so sorry Peter, I was just so angry and I did something horrible. Please can you call me?**

**Wanda: I can't tell you how sorry I am, please let me explain!**

**Wanda: I know you were just trying to help and I just want to talk to you.**

**Wanda: Can we talk a bit before therapy starts this week?**

**Wanda: Please call or text me back. :(**

**Wanda: I miss you.**

Wanda sighed angrily as she slammed her phone on the table in front of her. Peter hadn't been responding to any of her messages since their argument last week. At first she thought he was just processing the fact that she had red magical powers and was very confused, but then when she sent another text he still hadn't responded! She would send him a new message almost every couple hours hoping that he would text back to give her a chance to apologize but he didn't.

The longer Peter wouldn't text back the more her emotions would change like the wind. At first she was immediately furious after their argument, it took two full days for Tonys contractors to repair the training room after she took out her anger in the room. Then when she was exhausted from all the energy she exerted all she could feel was emptiness and shame. The fact she lied to herself that she didn't have a problem and then took out her anger on someone who was just trying to help. Sure she may have snapped at some of the Avengers when they probed a bit, but she never lashed out at them with her powers. Then finally guilt, that was the feeling that lasted the most and what motivated her to keep messaging Peter hoping he would give her a second chance. Then the cycle would repeat itself and she felt like she was back at square one.

The only hope Wanda had was that Peter would show up to therapy this week, she was so sure she'd see Peter there that she actually showed up early. However, as the minutes ticked by and he still didn't show up the more she started to worry. If he wasn't answering her texts or going to show up here then what could she do?

A ding sound alerted her to a text message being received on her phone, Wanda quickly reached over and flipped her phone eager to see Peter's message, however, it wasn't from Peter.

It was a text message from Vision, the android had seemed to be on a personal mission to cheer her up ever since he noticed her distressed state. Quite frankly it was more annoying than cheerful and often felt suffocating.

**Vision: Apologizes, by my estimates I hope you have received this message on your break. I've been tasked with making a meal for the team and was hoping you would be interested in helping me cook a sokovian dish for them?**

Wanda groaned again as she placed her phone back down, not bothering to respond to Vision. On a normal day she would find the gesture sweet but right now she was too stressed out now.

Part of the reason she figured was that she'd been trying to cut back on drinking, she knew being intoxicated was a big reason why she reacted as strongly to Peters's comments.

It seemed like every day she was battling a giant headache and that already made an already irritable Wanda even more irritable, if that was even possible. She wanted to prove Peter wrong, that she didn't have a drinking problem, so she made herself cut it out. Then the headaches started to come, she could feel herself twitch anytime she saw alcohol in the fridge.

The worst of it was when the nightmares came back, Wanda thought she had passed it, but it seemed just as she stopped they quickly invaded her thoughts. They used to be memories, whether her parents' death or Pietro's death. Now it seemed like a jumbled mess of memories, pictures and sometimes fictional scenarios her mind would create. It didn't matter, they all left her wide awake, terrified to even close her eyes.

The nightmares, the headaches, guilt, and Peter not talking to her left her as a giant mess. How could she fix this?

A bottle of beer slammed on the table right in front of her. She flinched at the unexpected noise, Wanda looked up and saw the bartender was the person who put it down.

"You look like you needed one." She said simply.

Wanda frowned as she stared at the bottle, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't tempted to grab it and chug it down and try to forget all the shit she's been going through, but she had to be better than that.

"Do you normally give out free beer?" Wanda asked, confused about the gesture. The only time a bartender would ever give out free beer was if they were trying to get in their pants. She should know, she exploited men's idiocy for drinks multiple times.

The woman shrugged. "Isn't easy to watch someone get stood up."

Wanda's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Stood up?"

"Yeah, ever since you got here you've been staring at your phone every few minutes, the look on your face getting angrier and angrier." The bartender explained.

"Oh.' Wanda replied simply, I guess it did look like her date didn't show up. "It's not like that."

The lady snorted at her response. "Yeah like you're special." She paused as she noticed Wanda's glare. "Sorry, it's just I've heard the same shit story. _He's not that guy_, _we're soulmates_,_ he'll have a good explanation as to why he didn't show_, or _it's not like that_."

Wanda sighed as she looked down at the bottle, she didn't feel like explaining to this woman why she wasn't on a date and the man was actually a teenager. Besides, she was smart enough to know that in this crowd it would only look like she was trying to seduce a minor.

Instead of responding she just grabbed the bottle and fiddled with it. It had been a few days, what could just one beer do? She popped the cap and slowly poured a small amount down her throat. Oh, that did taste good.

"See, you're feeling better already." The lady smiled, a customer on the other side of the bar started yelling for more drinks, so she left, leaving Wanda alone again.

Once again she was left alone, she reached for her phone to check again but stopped herself. She retracted her hand and took another sip of her beer. Was this all she was going to do? Just be miserable until he answered back? She glanced down at what remained of her drink and contemplated what to do.

"Screw it." She said as she downed the rest of her beer. She put it back down with a delightful sigh escaping her lips. She noticed the bartender coming back and Wanda waved her over.

"I would like another please," Wanda told her.

The lady smiled as she reached inside the fridge and pulled out another beer. "You know only the first one was free?"

Wanda smiled as she pulled out her credit card, and handed it to the bartender. "Start a tab for me and charge everything on this card.

"Sure thing." The bartender replied. "So do you have a name or should I just put you as 'Foreign Chick' on your tab.

"Wanda, yours?"

"Elizabeth." The bartender shared, she was about to walk away before Wanda stopped her.

"Do you have anything fruity?" Wanda asked.

"What did you have in mind?" She questioned back.

"What about Pornstars?" The Sokovian asked excitedly.

"We do, I'll start making one for you then." She gave Wanda a small wink before walking off to make her drink.

Wanda smiled to herself, a genuine smile. She'd been holding off on drinking for a few days already, she could afford to treat herself and have some fun. She then poured a large amount of her beer down her throat, oh the burn felt so good.

"I missed this," Wanda said to herself when she put the drink down.

She glanced around the bar, as nice as it would be to sit around and drink. She needed to do something! If she was going to let loose and have some fun she needed to move around. Unfortunately it was still pretty early in the day so there weren't a lot of people, so that removed dancing as a possibility as there were no people to grind against.

It was then she eyed a man playing darts by himself. Wanda smirked to herself as she just saw her next form of entertainment. She got off her stool and made her way over to him, she made sure he saw her well in advance as she walked over. She instantly noticed that he stopped playing and tried to discreetly stare at her. '_Men_'

Wanda stopped right in front of him, she could see him taking their time to look up to her face. It didn't take her magic powers to know what he was thinking of her.

Once his eyes finally rested on her face, he gave her an over-friendly smile. "What can I do for a pretty woman like you?"

Wanda had to resist rolling her eyes at his pathetic attempt at an opener, it was clear he had no clue what charming meant. Instead, she crossed her arms underneath her bust to make it more prominent and batted her eyes a couple of times.

"I was just by myself and I saw you playing this interesting game, I wanted to see what it was." She said sweetly motioning to the dartboard. "I'm Max."

"I'm Jackson." He said taking her hand and kissing on the knuckle. "No wonder, with a beautiful accent like that, I imagine they don't have this great game of darts where you're from." He responded, letting go of her hand.

The sokovian pretended to be shy as she bit her finger and looked at the darts in his hand in mock worry. "Looks like such a dangerous game with the sharp needles."

The man let out a loud bellow laugh, he smacked the table causing it to wobble. "Nothing dangerous about, why don't we play a game, can show you how safe it is."

He grabbed one of the darts and motioned to the dartboard a couple of feet away on the wall. "It's a little complicated but I'll make it simple for you." He said flashing her with a wide smile. "The goal of the game is to have the most points. You want to throw your dart in the small red dot in the center because that's worth the most points. The other areas as well are worth points as well, just not as much. After you throw all your darts you add up your score and whoever has the bigger number wins."

Wanda pretended to look at him like he was the most interesting thing ever, her eyes were wide and she nodded along as if she was paying attention, in truth she'd played darts before and she was about to make this man look like an idiot.

Jackson threw the first dart and Wanda almost laughed out loud as it missed the board completely, she could hear him muttering and he continued to throw, the next two hit the board but scored very little points.

"Now it's not easy, even pro's like me have a difficult time." He explained, trying to maintain his poor masculinity.

"Okay, I'll try my best." She said as she grabbed her own three darts.

Now, this is the part where she had the most fun. "What do I win?" She asked him suddenly.

Jackson frowned at her. "Win?"

Wanda nodded eagerly. "This is a game right, doesn't the winner usually get something?"

She could see Jackson's frown even further before a creepy smile appeared on his face. "Got any money on you?"

Wanda pointed to her beer. "How do you think I paid for it?"

He nodded. "Okay how about we each chip in twenty bucks, the winner keeps it all." He took a bill from his wallet and placed it on the table.

"Sure thing." She replied easily, the dummy was playing right into her hand.

She held the first dart in her hand and brought it up to eye level, she had to close her eyes as she started to see her vision shaken. Maybe drinking two beers very quickly was a bad idea. It was alright, even if she couldn't rely on her natural talent she still had her secret weapon. Right as she was about to throw it she purposely dropped the dart and watched as it landed on the floor.

"Oops," Wanda said, and she slowly bent down at the waist to pick it up, making sure her jean-clad butt was facing Jackson.

She smiled to herself as she felt his eyes staring at her ass, his thoughts screaming at her of all the nasty things he was imagining.

She stood back and raised the dart, but she knew Jackson was no longer paying attention at the game, and that was what she wanted. She enveloped the dart in a small red aura and sent it flying to her desired target. She smirked as it landed dead on and the fact he didn't say anything meant he was still staring at her rear. She quickly fired her remaining darts at the board, she'd already won hitting the center but she wanted it to look like it was pure luck so her other "throws" were low scoring targets.

Turning around she saw his eyes quickly look back up at her, trying to hide where he was previously staring at. He glanced over her shoulder at the board behind her and saw his eyes widened at her result.

"Uhhhh?" He stammered out looking at her final score, in disbelief.

"So does this mean I win?" She asked, way over the top excited.

Jackson nodded dumbly as he started to pull the darts out. Wanda squealed in excitement as she grabbed his twenty-dollar bill and stuffed it in her pocket.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Elizabeth walking towards her, a very familiar drink on her tray.

"Here you go, Pornstar just like you asked." She said handing Wanda the drink, she couldn't help herself by taking a quick sip, her lips sighing in satisfaction.

"That's a very good drink, keep them coming," Wanda said as she placed her drink besides Jacksons.

The bartender nodded, she looked at Jackson for a quick moment and then motioned for her to lean closer.

"Be careful with him, ever since you turned your back to him to play the creeps been staring at your ass." She warned.

"I know," Wanda said simply as she smiled back at her. She could see Elizabeth was confused for a moment before looking at the twenty that was half stuffed in her pocket, realization dawning on her face that she was conning the man.

"Do me a favor, pick him clean, the jackass is always hitting on me." The bartender requested.

"Count on it," Wanda smirked as she turned back to Jackson. "Want to play again?"

It turned out that after you bruise a man's ego, he'd do anything he can to repair it. Even if it meant losing every bit of money he carried on. Now that her body had gotten used to alcohol in its system she was able to better focus on and improve her aim without the use of her powers. She made sure to make each game close so that he would believe it was just luck, she'd even throw the odd game just to make it believable.

While all this was happening Wanda kept ordering more and more drinks, she didn't notice but her personality was starting to change, she was becoming giddier and giddier. Heck she was even flirting with the man! Well she mainly did it to make sure he continued to bet more money and didn't leave in frustration.

She has just finished her seventh? Eighth? She shrugged as she lost count on how much she'd drank. Though in the back of her mind she knew she was forgetting something, she couldn't remember what? It didn't matter, she'd deal with it after she was done. Just like with her phone constantly buzzing she just ignored it and let the problem solve itself.

A loud swear grabbed her attention as she saw Jackson had missed the board again and thus losing another game. She smiled to herself as she grabbed another twenty he'd placed on the table and stuffed it in her pocket along with the other bills. She giggled to herself thinking how much bills she had on her, it made her feel like a stripper.

"Oh dancing will be fun." She said to herself when she thought of dancers, also she saw more and more people coming inside and moving on the dance floor.

She finished the rest of her drink and stood up, she wobbled for a bit and had to use her chair as support.

"Where are you going?" She heard Jackson ask behind her.

"I think I've played enough darts, I want to dance now, nice playing with you." She said trying to reduce how many words she was slurring.

Once she felt the shaking start to stop she took a deep breath and started to make her way towards the dance floor, however, something grabbed her wrist stopping her. Confused Wanda turned around and saw Jackson had grabbed her.

"Mind letting go?" She asked.

"I thought we could go back to my place?" The way he spoke it told Wanda it was more of an order than a suggestion.

That instantly sobered her up a bit, she did not appreciate the way he just spoke to her. "Not interested."

If anything the grip on her arm applied more pressure, it wasn't any pain Wanda couldn't handle but this was starting to get annoying.

That's when he pulled her closer until she was face to face with him, she looked up at Jackson and could see his eyes narrowed, what was worse was that he reeked of alcohol, how much had they both drunk? A quick glance at the empty glasses and beer bottles from both of them said a lot.

"Why not? We're having a great time." He responded. An arrogant smirk appeared on his face. "Besides, you're way into me."

She didn't know if it was the alcohol speaking, or he really was that much of an idiot. Either way she was getting sick of this. "Trust me, buddy, I'm not interested in you and wouldn't touch you if you were the last man on earth."

She nearly gagged as she could smell and hear him taking heavier breaths. "Then why have you been flaunting this for the past few hours bitch!" Right as Jackson finished speaking she felt his hand snake around her and landed on her butt, giving it a firm squeeze.

Wanda's eyes nearly widened at what he just did, she soon narrowed her gaze at him. Reacting on pure instinct she wound her free arm back and landed a hard punch to the creep's face. It did the trick as he instantly let go of her with both hands, he must not have been suspecting it as he flew back and landed on the table, causing the legs to crack and sending both him and the empty bottles and glasses to the floor in a loud crash. She could feel everyone around her go silent at the loud commotion.

She couldn't help but giggle at the state he was in, dazed, confused, embarrassed, and splashes on alcohol on his clothing.

She could see him coming to his senses as his eyes landed on her. "You bitch!" He roared as he got up and charged at her, but before he could reach her another hand grabbed at Jackson and pulled him back.

Wanda looked back and saw it was a fairly large man that had grabbed Jackson by the back of his shirt, he yanked him back before dragging him away towards the front door. "Come on man, she said no and you've had too much to drink."

Now that the scene was over it seemed like everyone was resuming their conversations and music started to play again. Now what was she going to do again? A quick glance around and she saw the dance floor again. "That looks fun, I should try it."

The rest of the evening seemed to blur as she kept finding new ways to have fun, first, it was dancing then when she got tired she tried pool as well, and then the cycle repeated itself. If anyone looked at her they would always have a drink either in her hand or not too far away from her.

She also remembered something was vibrating in her pocket? She shook her head, silly at the notion, pants don't vibrate. It was honestly the most fun she'd had and she didn't want it to end.

That's when she saw Elizabeth set up the karaoke machine on the stage. Wanda loved karaoke! Before the bartender could finish installing it Wanda wobbled her way on stage.

"Ooooh me first!" She slurred, Elizabeth chuckled at her and handed her the mic.

"Be gentle with this, you wouldn't be the first drunk to accidentally break it while singing." She commented as she walked off the stage.

Wanda flipped through the selections, she wasn't familiar with most of these songs, but one did spark some sort of resemblance to her. So with a Pornstar in one hand and the mic in the other, she walked to the center of the stage, everyone's attention now on her as the first few beats of the song came on.

"All you women who want a man on the street, but you don't know which way you wanna turn." It wasn't the ideal song, but she doubted this American bar, with a karaoke machine made in China, had any songs from Sokovia. "Just keep a coming and put your hand out to me, cause I'm the one who's gonna make you burn."

Wanda could see the crowd really getting into her performance as she saw them standing on their feet and cheering loudly at her. That just further spurred her on as she continued, she took a quick sip of her drink and continued.

Soon even she got into the spirit of it as she started dancing along to her singing, she probably looked ridiculous but she couldn't care less.

"Shoot to thrill, play to ki-" Wanda didn't watch where she was going as her foot tripped on the cord from the microphone and she fell off the stage. It seems people's first reaction to her falling was not to catch her, instead they moved out of the way. She landed harshly on her back, the breath being knocked out of her and soon followed by her head on the hard floor.

She groaned as all the alcohol in her system couldn't numb the pain she was feeling. What was worse was that she could feel the vibrations getting worse, where was it coming from!?

Her mind was jumping all over the place as she could hear some commotion and hear her name?

"Wanda!" A masculine voice said.

Strange, the only person she told her name to was Elizabeth and she was eighty percent sure she was a woman.

"Wanda!" Another voice said, definitely masculine.

She tried to get up but the pain was too much and she laid her head back on the wooden floor.

"There she is Sam!" This time a female voice shouted.

The last thing Wanda could see was two pairs of feet by her side, she saw one was a blurred face with long red hair before passing out.

**Authors Note: Bit of a shorter chapter but I wanted this to focus solely on Wanda's perspective. Obviously this chapter was her hitting rock bottom and her drinking problem escalating. Next time we see her she'll have to admit a few things she's been running from.**

**The next chapter will show what Peters has been going through and how he feels about the past week and why he's been ignoring Wanda.**

**See you next time!**


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